Media outlets in America are boxing with the biggies. In this corner: Google and FaceBook (rebranded as Meta). In that corner: multiple newspapers. Shake hands (or fists) and come out scrapping. Ding!
Ladies and gentlemen, the courts will have to decide if the two giants have a monopoly over digital ad revenue. It’s an alleged antitrust accusation. But, will it turn into a punching palooza?
Among the Ohio publications are those owned by AIM Media Midwest Operating, LLC: Delaware Gazette; (Washington Court House) Record Herald; Gallipolis Daily Tribune; (Pomeroy) Daily Sentinel; Galion Inquirer; Morrow County Sentinel; Lima News; Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune; Sidney Daily News; Urbana Daily Citizen; Miami Valley Today; Portsmouth Daily Times; (Portsmouth) Community Common; Wilmington News Journal; SALT Magazine; The Star Community Guide; Xenia Daily Gazette; (Greenville) Daily Advocate; (Greenville) Early Bird; Fairborn Daily Herald; Beavercreek News-Current; Fulton County Expositor; (Hillsboro) Times-Gazette; (Eaton) Register-Herald; Swanton Enterprise; and Brookville Star.
Go to www.axios.com to see a long list of other U.S. newspapers in the brawl. And by the way, Axios is a new kid on the block with a mega mantra: “We want to bring smart, modern, trustworthy local news to every community in America.” More digital competition for newspapers. Hey, stay out of my small town! We don’t take kindly to Internet strangers.
It seems like everybody wants a piece of Big Tech. In 2021, The Justice Department sued Google for violating antitrust laws. And Facebook is on the hotseat from state attorneys general and the Federal Trade Commission. Shazam! “There’s gold in them there hills.” I mean there’s platinum in them there digital platforms.
Collusion between Google and FaceBook is alleged. Really? Would the platform pals try to squash the competition? Not the titans of technology. No, the digital duo of disaster cannot be drunk on control and power over advertising. Not CEO Mark Zuckerberg or Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Say it isn’t so.
I guess the sharing of revenue is out of the question. The bullies in the sandbox won’t play fair.
All sarcasm aside, residents and readers need to encourage and support their local and state newspaper people in Ohio. Advertisers need to choose between the David’s and the Goliaths.
The Ohio News Media Association (ONMA) was established in 1933 as the Ohio Newspaper Association. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of ONMA, AdOhio sells advertising in ways that are designed to make the process as easy as possible for the advertiser. AdOhio handles display, classified and online advertising, legal notices and preprints. OhioSCAN, a statewide classified network of dailies and weeklies, offers member newspapers the chance to generate revenue from local ads submitted to the network.
“You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.”– Golda Meir
Melissa Martin, Ph.D., is a therapist, an opinion-editorial columnist and author. She lives in Ohio.
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