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posted by mrpg on Saturday January 20 2018, @10:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the unpaid-editor dept.

[...] HuffPost in the US today announced that it is sunsetting its contributors platform — also known as its unpaid blogger platform.

The news was broken by HuffPost itself (which, like TechCrunch, is part of Oath, owned by gigantic carrier Verizon), which directly tied the move to the changing tides (not Tide Pods, although I personally think there is a connection) in the world of news media and how technology is used to distribute it.

"Now, there are many places where people can share and exchange ideas," HuffPost editor in chief Lydia Polgreen writes in a post on the site.

"Perhaps a few too many: One of the biggest challenges we all face, in an era where everyone has a platform, is figuring out whom to listen to. Open platforms that once seemed radically democratizing now threaten, with the tsunami of false information we all face daily, to undermine democracy. When everyone has a megaphone, no one can be heard. Our hope is that by listening carefully through all the noise, we can find the voices that need to be heard and elevate them for all of you."

[...] I'll be interested to see if HuffPost's move signals more of these unpaid blogger platforms (ahem, Forbes) changing tack, and just as significantly whether these sites can find the magic formula to replace it in their revenue streams if and when they do.

Source: TechCrunch


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:46PM

    by frojack (1554) on Saturday January 20 2018, @09:46PM (#625331) Journal

    Came to address the same point.

    I suspect old Huff empire was starting to see far too many dissenting opinions appear on their unpaid blogger platform, as other voices were using the Huff's own stick to beat the owners about the head and shoulders.

    That and the fact that it was being a seeding ground for fake news, and keeping it around (even at arms length) is starting to look like it might attract legal problems. It will be interesting to see if the archives disappear.

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