State of the media: Tech companies dominate journalism to the ‘very core’

NEWS AND OPINION:

Every year, the Pew Research Center issues a massive “State of the Media” report which plumbs the troubled depths of journalism, from content to audience to revenue. A new one just arrived, providing more evidence that the press has been in an identity crisis ever since the internet, technology and the 2008 recession transformed the business and challenged old ways. Flexible news organizations that preserved their credibility and basic mission in a frantic digital marketplace but still delivered the goods with style and authority have survived. And that’s all there is to it. There has been one seismic shift, however. The report finds that the forces that deliver the news are now mightier than those which actually provide the content.

’There is money being made on the web, but news organizations have not been the primary beneficiaries,” stated the analysis, released Wednesday. “Total digital ad spending grew another 20 percent in 2015 to about $60 billion, a higher growth rate than in 2013 and 2014. But compared with a year ago, even more of the digital ad revenue pie — 65 percent — is now swallowed up by just five tech companies. None of these are journalism organizations, though several — including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter — integrate news into their offerings. Increasingly, the data suggest that the impact these technology companies are having on the business of journalism goes far beyond the financial side to the very core elements of the news industry itself.”

Find the jumbo report at Journalism.org

TRUMP SAYS YEE-HAW

A campaign trail moment of note for Thursday: Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump journeys to Dallas for a bodacious evening rally. His destination: Gilley’s South Side Ballroom, which accommodates 3,800 and is named for country singer Mickey Gilley.

 

WHO WON THE DROP-OUT RACE?

Some Republican voters never lost faith in their preferred candidate. Though they set a record by casting 30 million votes in GOP primaries, a significant number of die-hard supporters — 1.6 million — still voted for candidates who had already exited the race. That makes up 5.4 percent of the total vote according to a new analysis by the University of Minnesota. The winner of the drop-out race was Ohio Gov. John Kasich, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

“The GOP had a modern era high water mark of 17 major candidates running for office. One by one these candidates fell to Donald Trump, but hundreds of thousands of voters across the country turned out to support them even though their campaigns had ended,” says political professor Eric Ostermeier, who led the research.

Here’s what he found. Mr. Kasich garnered 451,673 votes, Mr. Cruz tallied 420,577 votes and Mr. Carson 263,092 after they dropped out of the race. Former Gov. Jeb Bush was a distant fourth at 191,498 votes.

The rest of the field: Sen. Marco Rubio (119,163), Sen. Rand Paul (58,221), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (48,007), Gov. Chris Christie (33,181), businesswoman Carly Fiorina (25,292), former Gov. Jim Gilmore (15,290), former Sen. Rick Santorum (14,616), Sen. Lindsey Graham (5,672), former Gov. George Pataki (2,000) and Gov. Bobby Jindal (219).

Ironically, 10 of the hopefuls received more votes as ex-candidates than they did while they were still on the campaign trail.

TWEAKING THE DEBATES

All the squawking and posturing that went on in the Republican and Democratic primary debates drew record-breaking audiences for the host networks. But they were only dress rehearsals for the first official presidential debate is September 26. Some observers are worried, however.

“Today’s debates have been reduced to a string of ’gotcha’ questions for candidates, which result in personal attacks, uninformative sound bites, rehearsed remarks and scripted rebuttals. They tell voters almost nothing that can’t be gathered from campaign ads. There is no time for depth, no payoff for nuance, no serious discussion of policy,” notes a new petition from Intelligence Squared, a public interest group that stages public debates.

The organization wants the Commission on Presidential Debates to adopt Oxford-style debate — “a proven format that would better demonstrate the candidates’ platforms, ideas, and interaction,” the petition says, emphasizing that the method promotes authentic debate rather than political theater.

“Unable to rely solely on personal attacks and personality, an Oxford-style debate would force the candidates to respond to intense questions, marshal relevant facts, and expose weaknesses in their opponents’ arguments. Memorized talking points could not be disguised as answers,” reads the organization’s dramatic public plea. Take a peek here: Change.org/fixthedebates

THIRD PARTY FEVER REACHES CNN

The Libertarian Party continues to enjoy increased public attention. CNN will stage a prime-time town hall meeting for presidential candidate Gary Johnson and vice presidential hopeful William Weld next week, with all the trimmings.

The pair of former Republican governors will take questions from a live audience at CNN’s New York headquarters at Time Warner Center on Wednesday at 9 p.m. EDT.

POLL DU JOUR

• 39 percent of U.S. voters would vote for Hillary Clinton if the election were today; 6 percent of Republicans, 22 percent of independents and 75 percent of Democrats agree.

• 31 percent of men, 47 percent of women, 29 percent of whites, 80 percent of blacks and 21 percent of evangelicals also agree.

• 36 percent overall would vote for Donald Trump; 72 percent of Republicans, 32 percent of independents and 8 percent of Democrats agree.

• 41 percent of men, 30 percent of women, 45 percent of whites, 5 percent of blacks and 58 percent of evangelicals also agree.

• 12 percent overall would vote for Gary Johnson; 11 percent of Republicans, 23 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats agree.

• 16 percent of men, 8 percent of women, 13 percent of whites, 3 percent of blacks and 8 percent of evangelicals also agree.

Source: A Fox News poll of 1,004 registered U.S. voters conducted June 5-8.

• Grumbling, hoity-toity commentary to jharper@washingtontimes.com.