#so apparently the new internet-provider doesn't solve the issue.

[racke7]

Huh.

[commiemartyrshighschool]

Even ignoring the immense ethical issues that are inherent to an ad-supported journalism model, as a revenue stream it has also entirely broken down. The internet has entirely supplanted the newspaper as the public bulletin board, and the apparent ROI for a banner ad with trackable metrics is way higher for most advertisers, plus color doesn't cost extra.

This has all accelerated lately because the simplest means of increasing profit in any news org is to provide less coverage while charging existing subscribers the same (or more) money, or further degrading the line between ads and coverage through sponsored content.

The effectiveness of slashing coverage is particularly clear in the case of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where most of the newsroom has been on strike since October 2022. The wealthy family that bought it hasn't had great success in finding scabs but after an initial rush of cancellations the remaining subscribers haven't been moved by declining coverage and the far-right stance of the owners attracted some new support after they fired a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for presenting the mildest critique of Trump.

Or perhaps look to the Bezos owned Washington Post which changed its motto to "Democracy Dies in Darkness" while it has subtly but appreciably shifted any coverage of Amazon away from the critical, on top of its broader endorsement of American Imperial projects. Their owner is perhaps not so concerned with profits, but control over the messaging from the outlet, and even if he never directly intervenes his mere ownership exerts pressure from the top-down to keep him happy.

This article deals with the issue of coverage in the UK and matters of international coverage, which I'm less familiar with, but the fact is reporting the world over is under threat from the consolidation of ownership and the undermining of editorial independence.

I'm personally in favor of reporters and editors directly owning their outlets, which is the only way that many smaller or more remote communities will be able to have an independent investigative capacity. It's exceedingly rare that a member of the general public has the time and inclination to make sure a small-town's budget is actually being spent in the stated way.

We need community funding of somebody to do that, but without it coming through a government that can use funding to exert control.

But we need this sort of model to exist in a transnational form too. Sending reporters overseas is far more expensive than to town hall, but many news orgs are struggling to do that. Collaborating with local reporters is ideal, but has its own logistical hurdles.

Which I guess is a rambly way of saying I agree with this thesis, but that we need a really transformative approach to how journalists work and are organized to solve this issue beyond making donations to a handful of existing orgs, even ones presently doing good work.

From the outset of the latest Israel-Palestine conflict, the capitalist media in Britain and USA has acted as an obedient mouthpiece for the establishment, echoing their imperialist propaganda. We need to build a voice for the exploited and oppressed.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

my woes, as yodeled into an indifferent void me: aahhhh! i'm so excited for my doll to arrive! *checks tracking 500x a day* the doll: finally arrives me: oh it's here! thank goodness it arrived safely!!!

me:

me:

me: doesn't open the box for a week

can my mental illness pls give me a break? executive dysfunction is so stupid. THE BOX IS RIGHT THERE! (related query: i know a lot of people keep their doll's boxes for a secondary proof of legitimacy but oh my sweet summer fuck this box is huge!!! where am i gonna put this!!!! where do y'all put yours??)

see also: doll next to me with no wig, holding her wig. i could put this on at any time and yet! it's not Time to put on the wig, apparently!

cannot impress upon the neurotypical enough how little choice i have in this dumb little matter, it's either "spend all night changing doll styling because i am Anxious" or "i am blind deaf and dumb to the concept of recreational activities." i spent eleven hours on and off yesterday, while doing other things in my life, looking at horse photos on the internet. i don't know why. i do not choose the hyperfixation, i merely live under its shadow. i could, theoretically, have stopped at any time and chosen to do something i actually wanted to do, but- oh sorry i blinked and it's been two hours since i last blipped back into awareness, what were we talking about?

and sure, my problems are small in the grand scheme of things, but i am awake at 4:30 in the morning so it's time to dish the Real Doll-Adjacent Dirt(TM). i am being hampered in my ability to do doll things by my dumb little life and it blows. (never mind that it also makes it incredibly challenging for me to function on a day to day basis when i either have to monch constantly to have an attention span, or i forget that i need to eat food entirely, never mind the fact that i've never had a consistent sleep schedule or awareness of the passage of time as a whole, but that's another matter.) (also for anyone suggesting medical assistance, oh buddy, i'm trying. my insurance provider serendipitously decided to no longer cover what i've been taking and thanks to no one believing in the pandemic in my area, my doc contracted The Rona which hampered scheduling of appointments -- and thus i have been forced to come off my medication cold turkey and i've been off for weeks verging on nearly two months. i'm surviving but if i can't even play with dolls when i want because of my idiot brain, extrapolate that to my ability to do anything else with my dumb little life.

this isn't so much a cry for help as me shouting into the void... eventually this will get sorted. until then, i'm exactly as bonkers as i normally am, but without the benefit of steering to direct the mental illness into a positive outlet. if anyone else is in the same boat as me, godspeed! i am forever furious by this change in policy; change "adhd medication" to "blood thinner" or "insulin" and i'd be Fuckening Dead, but the gross mischaracterization of mental health issues as something unimportant that you can solve by ~manifesting your blessings~ and lighting a new candle continues to be a pox upon society at a global scale.  i typed all this instead of opening the box or putting a wig on a doll because i, like stu pickles making pudding at 2 in the morning (which coincidentally i also just did -- it's banana pudding,) have lost control of my life. but hey, at least the box got here okay, yeah?

~Anonymous