For news outlets, the emergence of the new technology brings back uncomfortable memories of the growth of tech giants like Facebook and Google, which upended the way people consume news and cannibalised revenues in the process.
It would really help if newspaper publishers understood who has screwed their business. It’s e-Bay, Monster.com, Rightmove and Autotrader.
For local papers (nationals are different, they’re also not all going bust) classifieds were a significant profit driver. Really significant. And that’s the bit that’s disappeared to online. That’s also what is killing local newspaper finances. Losing that local monopoly on classifieds.
Fuck all to do with Facebook and Google.
The post Sigh first appeared on Tim Worstall.