media | tech | now
Until 20 years ago, getting a cab in São Paulo or in any other city meant often digesting an overpaid, low-quality service held by a monopolist category that could do whatever they wanted because you had no other options. Now, taxi drivers rabidly rage over Uber while they slowly disappear leaving no mourners behind.…
Since the beginnings of civilisation, men had some cardinal points dominating their concerns. Wars and economic development are some of them, but none of them matches the quest for mankind’s own origins and purpose. Truth, a monolithic, indivisible and undeniable concept was the supreme goal backing all the others.…
Subscriptions, not ads nor social-generated windfall miracles seem to be, after all, the most credible way for journalism to regain solid ground. Hear no mermaid singing of trendy tech cornucopias: Even if still away from sustainability – let alone the fat margins of pre-digital – the consistent deployment of readers paying for journalism is the conducting wire behind some shimmering hope in a scorched earth media environment.…
In the last decade or a little bit more, everything the world knew about communication proved to be wrong. Newspapers were brought down to Earth when they found out that the relevance they had was due to their monopolies of the distribution channels much more than from the quality of the “journalism” they produced.…
It’s been some time since social networks earned free media exposition for events that promised an everlasting and positive impact on society. Facebook’s dystopic myriad of leaks and misuses, Twitter’s struggles to avoid hate speech to flow through its platform and an increasing number of people with the ability to game the system took away the cool aura that once floated over California.…
Last week, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be in Warsaw for the n-ost conference. Journalism is one very ungrateful trade nowadays, with issues from small wages to an inglorious fight to stay relevant, but that meeting was nothing about it.…
In a world where space is infinite, why is not everyone there? This is the most fascinating question that came to me reading a study made by Yochai Benkler, author and the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School following the symptoms that show that centre-right is not well-represented in US media (which I think may be the same as in other countries).…
This year, the US Open, one of the four Grand Slam tennis world tournaments, will not be measured by the skills of the most talented players in the world. The eyes will all be behind the camera – or better, the servers – on the possible major disruptor that has caused havoc in many areas: Amazon.…
Last month, at last, the most awaited piece of media legislation in history has hit the real world. The Global Data Protection Regulation is a 2016 law but gave two long years for publishers to comply – and it was not enough, so publishers restricted or blocked European users from using to avoid the risks that possible fines could come.…
These are tough times for Facebook. The company has suffered many small upsets in the past two years but kept growing, which for the whole trade meant they were doing everything alright. Now that the Cambridge Analytica scandal not only came to the surface but also gave unequivocal proof that it’s just the tip of the iceberg, the Palo Alto behemoth should conclude that the last two years were delightful compared to the scrutiny, pressure and financial loss Facebook should experience from now on.…
These days, the general feeling among the digital media observers in the world is a mix of fear, uncertainty and commiseration. The industry as we know is plainly sinking. Digital journalists are replacing the number of traditional media jobs at a scale of 20 to 1.…
“In a dark time, the eye begins to see”
Theodore Roethke
Every week, tech companies and their extensions announce the rollout of a new resource, something that will bring great benefits for society, something that will bring back lot revenues and relevance for publishers, something that journalists have long been waiting for and will return them to their role of caretakers of society and guardians of the democracy.…