Adviser Update Adviser Update Spring 2017 | Page 12
N E W S M AT TE R S
Silicon Valley and Journalism
By Richard J. Levine
S
ocial media and technology
companies, most especially
Facebook, pose an existential
threat to the independence and
quality of American journalism.
Richard J. Levine
Richard J. Levine is president
of the board of directors of the
Dow Jones News Fund, Inc.
Since joining Dow Jones & Co.
in 1966, he has served as vice
president for news and staff
development, executive editor
of Dow Jones Newswires,
vice president of information
services, editorial director
of electronic publishing and
Washington correspondent
and columnist for The Wall
Street Journal. He holds a B.S.
from Cornell University and
an M.S. from the Columbia
University Graduate School
of Journalism. Email: richard.
levine@dowjones.com.
That is the glum conclusion one draws
from a new research report published by
the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at
Columbia University’s Graduate School
of Journalism, “The Platform Press:
How Silicon Valley
Reengineered
Journalism.” It was
authored by Emily
Bell, the center’s
respected director,
and Taylor Owen,
EMILY BELL
an assistant professor of digital media at
the University of British Columbia.
Established in 2010, the Tow Center
seeks to train journalists for leadership
roles in the digital age and to serve as
a hub of research and development.
Toward that end, the center is
embarked on a multi-year project on
the relationship between journalism
and social media platforms. While the
center released preliminary findings
last June, The Platform Press is the most
comprehensive report to date on its
research in this critical area.
The report’s executive summary
proclaims:
“The influence of social media platforms
and technology companies is having a
greater effect on American journalism
than even the shift from print to digital.
There is a rapid takeover of traditional
publishers’ roles by companies including
Facebook, Snapchat, Google and Twitter
that shows no signs of slowing, and
which raises serious questions over how
the cost of journalism will be supported.
These companies have evolved beyond
their role as distribution channels, and
now control what audiences see and
who gets paid for their attention, and
even what format and type of journalism
flourishes.”
Noting that in the past 20 years,
journalism has been buffeted by digital
communications, the social web and
most recently the dominance of mobile
devices, the report asserts that with the
rise of smartphones, large technology
companies have come to dominate “the
markets for attention and advertising,”
forcing news organizations “to rethink
their processes and structures.”
According to the Tow Center:
“No newsroom is unaffected by the
gravitational force of big technology
companies. Decisions made by
Facebook, Google and others
now dictate strategy for all news
organizations, but especially those with
advertising-based models….Publishers
remain confused or undecided about
how best to leverage relationships with
technology companies. A growing
number of news organizations see
investing in social platforms as the only
prospect for a sustainable future.”
In the view of the researchers, “The