Every now and again I remind myself about the actual scale of things.
In the media business, it took way too many years for executives to realize that Google, Facebook and the rest were going to disrupt their business model by taking over most of the advertising revenue. By the time they did see what was happening, it was too late.
That trend continues unabated. For example, total ad revenue at the top U.S. newspaper, the New York Times, fell 26 percent in 2020, to $392.4 million. But for the most recent period available (2019), Google earned a whopping $134.81 billion from ads! Facebook earned roughly half that amount ($69.66 billion).
So Google earns about 350 times as much ad revenue as the Times, and Facebook 175 times as much. These are giants; the Times is a flea.
Anyway, one of today's news items from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the Internet masters massively increased their advantage even further over the past year, thanks to the pandemic. We'll have to wait for the statistics on that.
But that Facebook and Google are now being forced by some governments (Australia, Europe) to pay content providers for the privilege of profiting off of their content is in reality a case of tiny crumbs being dribbled out to companies that have been displaced by the digital revolution.
To be clear, I'm not complaining here or blaming any party; I'm observing. It's always good to keep the scale of things in mind when interpreting the relative power various parties have over our world.
Talking about another matter of scale, one of the right wing's main whipping boys -- Antifa -- is a marginal collection of unarmed anarchists who have little discernible influence or impact on our society. At most, they are an annoyance.
My experience with Antifa was having my reporters come back from peaceful demonstrations in the Bay Area to note that a few masked Antifites had broken some windows. That's about it. No politician defends them or espouses their philosophy. The Democratic Party wants nothing to do with Antifa.
But if you listen to the right wind extremist media, Antifa is a greater threat to democracy than the Proud Boys, Three Percenters and other armed rioters who assaulted the U.S. Capitol, killing people and attempting to overthrow the results of the election.
Nonsense.
There is no equivalence here, only the fanciful thinking of Trump followers that they can divert attention from the real threat, which is them.
I'll throw the Proud Boys one bone, however. They appear at least to have a sense of humor, albeit a sick one, whereas Antifa appears to have none.
But in the end this is no laughing matter.
There are no members of Congress who support Antifa. By contrast the Republican Party is littered with QAnon conspiracy sympathizers and those who refuse to denounce the violence committed by right-wing extremists.
Take your pick when deciding where the threat lies. It's a matter of scale.
***
* U.S. to Send Millions of Vaccine Doses to Mexico and Canada (NYT)
* Not Enough Vaccine Doses In Europe To Stop A 3rd Wave, German Health Minister Says (NPR)
* There's been relatively little data until now on how widespread coronavirus reinfection is. A study published in The Lancet this week shows most people are protected from getting reinfected for at least six months, but people ages 65 and older are far more likely than younger individuals to experience reinfection. [HuffPost]
* Public health experts say two barriers stand in the way of reaching herd immunity and getting back to life as we knew it -- Covid-19 variants and vaccine hesitancy. (CNN)
* How Racism and Sexism Intertwine to Torment Asian-American Women (NYT)
* "I grew up in the South as an Asian American. It was clear I wasn’t welcome." (WaPo)
* The Stop AAPI Hate Reporting Center received 3,795 reports of anti-Asian racism since March 2020. Nearly 45 percent of them were from California. [Sacramento Bee]
* Big U.S. banks will have to resume holding an extra layer of loss-absorbing capital against U.S. Treasuries and central bank deposits from next month after the Federal Reserve said on Friday it would not extend a temporary pandemic regulatory break due to expire this month. (Reuters)
* The Justice Department’s antitrust division has been gathering information and asking whether Visa, the largest U.S. card network, has limited merchants’ ability to route debit-card transactions over card networks that are often less expensive. (WSJ)
* In France and across Europe, more students are facing food insecurity as the pandemic enters its second year and job cuts in their families take a widening toll. (NYT)
* IRS warns of potential delays for major child poverty initiative in $1.9 trillion stimulus (WaPo)
* Scientist behind coronavirus shot says next target is cancer (AP)
* Covid-19 Supercharged the Advertising ‘Triopoly’ of Google, Facebook and Amazon (WSJ)
* Why Are Jobless Claims Still High? For Some, It’s the Multiple Layoffs. (NYT)
* NASA completes major test on rocket that could take humans back to the moon (Reuters)
* Liberals Grow Impatient With Biden’s Foreign Policy Decisions (NYT)
* Judge limits evidence, refuses to move trial in Floyd death (AP)
* Chuck Schumer Stalls Climate Overhaul of Flood Insurance Program -- The Senate leader is objecting to a plan that would raise costs for some of his constituents by bringing flood insurance rates in line with climate risks. (NYT)
* Known For Its Floods, Louisiana Is Running Dangerously Short Of Groundwater (NPR)
* Biden approval grows as more Americans receive vaccinations (Reuters/Ipsos)
* House Votes to Give Millions of Dreamers and Farmworkers a Path to Citizenship (NYT)
* NY prosecutors interview Cohen an 8th time in Trump inquiry (AP)
* A Pandemic Winner: How Zoom Beat Tech Giants To Dominate Video Chat (NPR)
* (A) number of writers publishing via Substack have begun arguing that this strategy makes the company seem less like a technology platform and more like a media company (a familiar debate around Facebook and other online giants) — or at the very least, like a technology platform that also makes editorial decisions subject to scrutiny and criticism." (TechCrunch)
* "Should I even be writing this?" More on Substack controversy. (Notes From A Small Press)
* 21% of U.S. adults said they’re experiencing high levels of psychological distress; among those, 28% said the pandemic has changed their lives in “a major way,” according to a recent Pew survey. (538)
* Florida has introduced a mandatory $500 fine for anyone caught trying to figure out state’s actual death toll numbers. (The Onion)
***
Oh, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Feels like every time I get back on my feet
She come around and knock me down again
Oh, worry, worry, worry, worry
Sometimes I swear it feels like
This worry is my only friend
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