Online Investigators Uncover Massive Corruption, Then Get Punished - December 16, 2019
Whistleblowers don’t always make news, just sometimes. That a person comes forward from within an organization or community to reveal malfeasance, corruption or crime reveals an ethical depth often at odds with common wisdom: go along to get along. Reality, of course, can be dramatic. Confidential sources are protected by journalistic ethics, alive and well in most places. Like journalists who look into their claims, whistleblowers face retribution.

Digital Promise And Reality - May 6, 2019
Those who study media economics have made interesting discoveries about paywalls, the seemingly indispensible cookie monsters meant to extract cash. Publishers love paywalls, generally, because their shareholders want more money. Readers are less excited, particularly those desiring access to multiple sources.

The Copyright Problem Best Solved By Consumers - February 18, 2019
The European Commission, Council of the European Union and the European Parliament gave a St. Valentine’s Day treat to those hoping for fit for purpose digital age copyright rules. The EU Copyright Directive, officially Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, was last updated in 2001, three years before Facebook appeared. Failure to reach agreement on copyright rules after all these years would have caused an existential crisis. There are yet more steps but baring the unforeseen - debate within the Member States - this is the legal framework that will govern copyright legislation within the European Union with effects reaching beyond those borders for decades.

Digital Publishing: Money Needed - January 18, 2019
Thoughtful predictions for the coming year in digital journalism and publishing have appeared in recent days. As with recent years, the insight is mostly doleful, evidence persuasive and solutions painful. One thing stands out among all these predictions: money. Easy money from advertising, paywalls, billionaires or, even, governments is not going to save news publishing. Some of it can't be saved, some shouldn't.

News Publishers And Digital Tech: The Enduring Disconnect - May 29, 2018
News publishing is a business. It operates on economic principals familiar to every business. There are exceptions and many have jumped out from dark places. But big business doesn’t operate on anomalies, at least not very well and certainly not the news media.

Everybody’s Off The Hook - Boggled Minds Love Fake News - March 12, 2018
Projected as an assault on liberal democracies, the blow-back against fake news has landed squarely at the doors of the internet providers, web portals and social media networks that happen to host the vile transgressions. After putting up quaint resistance, typically citing free speech and such, the masters of the digital universe have found their executives sitting before various government panels explaining how they got so rich being so bad. The message from these meetings has always been the same: there’s a real language barrier between digital technology and elected governments.

High Risk Diets Affect Reality Acceptance - February 5, 2018
News publishers no longer have ink in their veins. That’s been replaced with a concoction of algorithms and virtual reality heavily salted with fake news. Arteries clogged by the high-fat comfort food of advertising are being cleansed by a regimen of members, followers, supporters and benefactors. The refreshed heart embraces risk, antidote for every evil.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Digital Transitions

Media's transition from analogue to digital has opened opportunities and unleashed challenges beyond the imagination. Media is connected and mobile yet fettered by old rules and new economics. Broadcasters and publishers borrow from the past while inventing whole new services. This ftm Knowledge file explores the changes. 88 pages PDF (March 2012)

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