Facebook Cash

I find it curious. Facebook, the social media giant, says it will contribute $300-million dollars to insure local news operations survive.

I guess that’s because Facebook understands that it can’t generate the content that most people want…..local news. That has to be generated in a place like the newsroom at WFIW and WOKZ. Facebook is a tool that allows us to promote our local news operation. They only provide a channel for distribution.

The major problem in our society is not the quality of the news product coming out of local newsrooms----the problem is the preponderance of fake news that has been used by Facebook over the years. Their inability to screen what is copied and pasted in their vehicle is the real problem.

I agree journalism is in a horrible state today. The public’s perception of the integrity of the news is tottering right around its favorability of Congress. Not very impressive. And the state of the newspaper industry is at its lowest point in the history of print. Newspapers are folding left and right because they can’t compete with digital media.

Fortunately for us, in radio, our product is easily consumed in a digital world.

If you have a phone, you have a radio. We create news, put it on our website and it travels around the world in an instant.

The other real problem is the melding of straight news and opinion. They’re virtually indistinguishable on some channels. Here we try to keep the business of news separate from opinion…and also separate from marketing.

Facebook would have you believe it is doing something noble by ponying up some cash and saying it is in the best interest of journalism and local news. Honestly, what they are doing is making sure their most prized content, locally generated news, doesn’t dry up and go away.