Magazine mogul Tina Brown says she is so irritated and disappointed with how Facebook and Google reportedly hog advertising revenue, she’s proposing the two massive companies create a super-fund for traditional media.
“I am very angry and upset about the way advertising revenue has been essentially pirated by the Facebook-Google world, without nearly enough giveback — no giveback, really — to the people who create those brilliant pieces that are posted all over their platforms,” Brown said in an interview with Recode. “It’s high time they gave back to journalism.”
Brown, who has worked at Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, says the best way for Google and Facebook to be equitable is for them to create a “huge journalism fund” for the media industry, like local institutions. She adds, though, that such a voluntary initiative would be unlikely.
Organizations and members of the media have been increasingly critical of Google and Facebook in recent years and months as the two tech conglomerates have effectively established a duopoly in digital advertising revenue.
Under the coalition known as the News Media Alliance (NMA), giants like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are reportedly petitioning federal lawmakers to provide them an exemption from antitrust regulations. Such a reclassification would empower media organizations with the ability to collectively negotiate with the companies, which is important for the industry’s attempts to earn more ad revenue and end Google and Facebook’s hegemony. (RELATED: Wall St Exec Says Amazon May Cut Into Facebook, Google’s Ad Dominance)
Combined, the two gigantic firms account for roughly 90 percent of the growth in new advertising revenue, according to market research company eMarketer, and approximately 50 percent (and rising) of the current global digital ad market. Overall, the companies dwarf all others in the industry, with Google and Facebook respectively making $80.8 billion and $36.3 billion in 2017.
And NMA isn’t the first media entity to cry foul over the two tech companies hogging digital ad revenue. (RELATED: This Startup Wants To Take Some Power Away From Tech Giants)
Press Gazette, a British media outlet, launched a petition in April in a sort of battle cry aiming to stop Facebook and Google from “destroying journalism.”
Send tips to eric@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.