Internet Changes Everything: Newspapers
The News Broadsheet was a pivotal element of the 1776 American Revolution, eventually becoming enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Newspapers were integral to the Twentieth Century rise and evolution of Western Democracies. Without "frank and fearless" reporting (and an engaged electorate), governments can quickly spiral out of control. We're now 15+ years into the "Internet Revolution", so where are Newspapers in their journey on-line? Significantly, nobody seems to have discovered a "secret sauce" to generally monetise News and the work of Journalists in the way that Amazon and Google etc have monetised books and on-line ads. Those who make money from writing seem to do so from direct subscriptions - the on-line form of "newsletters". In my first job , there was a direct and obvious connection between the 5g +/- 0.01g of sugar being analysed and 'the business': Our analyses determined payments for 500 or 1,00...