* pay publishers more for showing video ads than showing text or image ads
* encourages and creates invasive tracking Javascript and cookies-and-similar tricks
* rewards SEO/spam tricks with higher placements in search
Over the years I assume they've changed that decision along with the general cultural rot that comes to large companies, but there is a clear precedent. Publishers didn't have to take money to make their own product worse. They could have made their product good and tried to make money that way.
Although realistically these media companies are probably going to go out of business with the current model whatever they try. The internet has made a mockery of their credibility; the future seems to be podcasters with dedicated audiences going it alone or blogs - the costs are lower and the quality is generally higher.
I'm not "blaming" Google, nor should you be "defending" them. What I'm attempting to do here is show that they definitely, perhaps indirectly, played a significant part in the shape of the modern web. While simultaneously decrying the laziness of publishers that led them to this late stage outcome.
I mean.. did you want to discuss how things might improve, or did you just want to score points?
You're crafting a false narrative of poor news media being forced to dig their own grave by someone else, when that is not even remotely true. They've been cost cutting and compromising themselves way before some evil tech corporation came to them.
There's really no industry that deserves this kind of history repainting less than the media moguls.
That was very generous of the billion dollar corporation to do. I'm sure there was no self serving motivation behind it.
> of poor news media being forced to dig their own grave
You seem to be struggling to see this outside of a black and white narrative and are mistaking your own polemic as being diametrically opposed to my point of view.
> There's really no industry that deserves this kind of history repainting less than the media moguls.
You also seem to be unaware of just how many small and medium sized broadcasters and publishers there are or how large this industry actually is. You are interested in narratives, I'm interested in facts. I don't think there's much more to discuss between us.
This outright BS. Noone asked them to fill their sites with popup videos, popup ads, spam and other garbage.
Noone asked them to spam people with notifications in iOS either and Google didn't force them to do that either.
Stop blaming Google for the deep rot within the news industry, they did it to themselves.