Why Subscription Models Can Help Fight Fake News and Clickbaits
With fake news and misleading information thriving on the Internet, we are left wondering how to deal with the garbage stream. There is one possible answer, but we hesitate to accept it: subscriptions.
The aforementioned video from YouTube educational channel The Film Theorists explains how the current trend of fake news and clickbait can be traced back to the 1800s. It was called “yellow journalism” back then, and it often involved kids on street corners shouting garbage headlines at you. At least this modern version is a bit quieter (barring the annoying autoplaying video ads).
As the video explains, newspapers were rewarded for more sensational headlines. It didn’t matter if they weren’t true, because they were still selling the newspaper. As it is today, when sites still get your clicks and ad impressions, even if you think the article is completely useless. The economics of news dissemination – then and now – is more about getting people to work the first time than being accurate.
In the heyday of newspapers, the solution to this problem was subscription. Subscribers will pay to have newspapers delivered to their doors every day. If they didn’t like the stories they received – for example, if they were poorly researched or inaccurate – they stopped subscribing. Thus, spending time on fact-checking and putting together the right story was more beneficial to the company’s success than making outrageous or completely far-fetched claims.
Ironically, subscriptions are still going through tough economic times because they compete with free media. Why pay to subscribe to a news outlet when you can read the same story posted on a million other blogs for free? Of course, you may not get a well-crafted version of the story, but you also won’t have to pay any money.
The video makes the argument that subscribing to YouTube creators can have a similar effect because it creates a solid stream of income rather than relying on catchy headlines or an almighty algorithm, but that’s not a perfect solution either. You can subscribe by purchasing YouTube Red , but this is not really a news solution. (It’s also worth noting that MatPat, creator of the Film Theory channel, is also the primary partner of the YouTube Red originals.)
Unfortunately, this is not a problem with a simple solution. News writers are always trying to make money, but when that money is not enough, they resort to shady tactics. Subscriptions can help by providing a reliable source of income that drives quality over clickbaits, but not everyone wants to pay money for what they can get for free. Alternatively, we can collectively choose to ignore stories that are clearly fictional junk, just as we do with tabloids in the grocery store, but emotional responses are hard to control en masse. However, if we are to tackle the rising tide of junk journalism, examining the economic incentives that create it is a great place to start.
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