The Subsidization of Media
[
Jethro Jones
](https://world.hey.com/jethro)
March 25, 2021
I’m not a journalist. I’m not even an avid consumer of what journalists create.
As I’m getting older, though, I’m realizing that I am interested more in what they offer.
I’m very intrigued by Casey Newton’s Platformer, especially his article titled “The Mess at Medium.”
Medium has never been intriguing to me, because it seemed to me to be a cash grab for the founder Ev Williams. Sure, he’s providing something, but it seemed to me that the purpose would be to build it up and sell it. I have no personal problem with someone creating something and selling it, but I didn’t feel that it would be good for users.
When Casey first announced his Substack, he did a great job and has produced really great journalism over the past several months, that’s why I am a subscriber to his Substack. He says in his ethic’s statement the following:
Platformer is hosted on Substack, a platform that I might find the need to cover from time to time. Substack has provided me with legal services, a health care subsidy, and design services intended to defray my startup costs. As it does with all paid newsletters on the platform, Substack takes a 10 percent commission on Platformer revenue. I promise to disclose my relationship with Substack whenever I write about it. - From Casey’s Ethic’s Statement, which I very much appreciate. Emphasis added.
Even someone who is doing great journalism needs a little boost to get it going.
In a recent episode of the Cybertraps Podcast, Scott Rabinowitz reminded us that we are paying somehow for content online, be it through advertisers or directly paying the company, or through some other mechanism.
The thing is, good things cost money.
I don’t know what the answer is here, but I do think it is important for us to get good information. Our current media is so skewed and focused on clickbait headlines that I have a hard time trusting what is out there.