Amor de Cosmos

PJ at Groklaw has published an essay dealing with Google’s Eric Schmidt’s address to newspaper publishers, AP’s desperate threat to sue for linking, and why you can’t make money from infotainment.

When you set up a business model where the news content has to be the main money-maker, it invariably degrades the news content. In my view, newspapers are dying for that very reason, because people no longer trust them. They spin so much, while pretending not to, that people would rather read a straight-up, honest blogger, warts and all. And there is sometimes a serious lack of factual accuracy in the mainstream press. It’s pretty bad when the comments under an article are more informative and accurate than the article itself. I have come to believe that when I see that, it’s probably because someone’s agenda is bleeding over that [wall between editorial and ads]. If I see it, others do too. No one likes to feel manipulated. (Groklaw)