The Pressure on the News Industry Is a Symptom of Disempowerment

If you study the history of news, one thing becomes very clear: we are not living through as extraordinary a period in the history of news as some people think.

Time and time again, over hundreds of years, the same pattern has played out. There is a period where a small group of elites pay enormous amounts of money for the quality information they need to operate. Then the information business becomes popularized and the reach is expanded. That pushes the news business towards sensationalization, eroding the quality of information in favor of entertainment. And then the elites who need good information to make important financial or political decisions retreat and start high-price, high-quality news sources with limited distribution. Then the cycle repeats.