Media Capture
Vertical Media Mergers Are a Serious Threat to Freedom of Speech
Antitrust regulators should stop mergers where a firm owning the means of transmission acquires a provider of content. The people that own the pipes...
If Journalists Want to Save Journalism, They Should Stop Asking Google for Money
A new report claims Google has been using its Google News Initiative to stage a “media takeover” and reveals the increasing influence of the...
The Good News: Fewer Americans Were Exposed to Fake News in 2018. The Bad News: This Probably Won’t Last
As it turns out, a majority of the American public is not bad at identifying disinformation. But as the 2020 election nears, the online...
The Decline of American Journalism Is an Antitrust Problem
Weak antitrust enforcement set the stage for Facebook and Google to extract the fruits of publishers’ labor. We won’t be able to save journalism...
How to Protect the News Media in the Age of Digital Platforms
Digital platforms present a new formidable threat to the news media that market forces will not correct if left to their own devices. The...
How the Legal System Helps the Media Hold the Powerful to Account
The legal system is the bloodline of investigative journalism. Recent maneuvers by the Trump administration may jeopardize it.
When done effectively, investigative journalism can greatly...
“Emmanuel Macron Is Not a Liberal, He Just Pretends to Be”
The French president found himself under fire following an attempted police raid on the offices of the investigative news site Mediapart. While many around...
The News Media’s Business Model of Extortion
The Jeff Bezos vs. The National Enquirer scandal highlights the role that extortion may play in the business model of some news outlets.
Jeff Bezos’s...
Editors’ Briefing: This Week in Political Economy (November 18-December 2)
New report reveals America’s “concentration crisis”; antitrust enforcers and regulators in Europe are going after Amazon, Facebook and Google; Facebook’s ongoing Soros debacle; and...
Digital Platforms’ Targeting Tools Are Opaque and Potentially Dangerous
A lawsuit claims that Facebook inflated video metrics to lure advertisers. Facebook denies, but it's worth noting that it would be much easier for...
