{"id":13606,"date":"2018-08-13T02:24:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-13T02:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=13606"},"modified":"2018-08-13T02:24:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T02:24:00","slug":"facebook-says-zuck-doesnt-hate-journalists-after-all-and-doesnt-want-them-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2018\/08\/13\/facebook-says-zuck-doesnt-hate-journalists-after-all-and-doesnt-want-them-to-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook says Zuck doesn’t hate journalists after all, and doesn’t want them to die"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you’re a journalist, chances are<\/strong> you’ve either read or been forwarded links to a story<\/a> in The Australian<\/em>, a newspaper based in Sydney that contains some explosive commentary from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg behind its paywall (the Daily Beast has a summary<\/a> of it). According to the story, Campbell Brown\u2014Facebook’s head of news partnerships\u2014said in a meeting with the paper’s senior executives that “Mark doesn’t care about publishers,” and also warned that if media companies didn’t work with the giant social network on business model solutions, “in a few years, I’ll be holding your hand with your dying business, like in a hospice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These comments were held up by some as conclusive proof that Facebook hates journalists and can’t wait for the industry to die. After all, the sentiment seemed to fit right in with some of the social network’s recent moves, which have reduced traffic to media outlets by significant amounts<\/a>. Some even believe the company is trying to deliberately distance itself from media because it is such a political and social minefield, and that all of this represents a retreat from having to deal with journalism altogether. But would Facebook really come out and say it doesn’t care if the media dies?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How is this in any way surprising to anyone? @facebook<\/a> has systematically attacked publishers who helped build it, enabled and encouraged the rise of disinformation and has never shown remorse or even the inclination to do any true reflection. https:\/\/t.co\/vj7ib4bODA<\/a><\/p>— Audrey Cooper (@audreyhasnews) August 13, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote>