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Monday, August 14, 2023

#MicroblogMondays: Read all about it (if you can!)

You all know how much I love sharing links to news stories on my blog that I think you might find interesting -- especially stories about childlessness, infertility, pregnancy loss, and grief & loss generally.  I generally don't share these kinds of articles on my social media accounts -- but I do frequently share other news articles there.  

Right now, however, I can't share -- or view -- news articles of any kind on any of Meta's platforms. This is not because of anything that I, personally, have done -- millions of Canadians are in the same situation right now. It's because Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, among other social media platforms, is embroiled in a dispute with the Canadian federal government, which recently passed legislation requiring them to start paying news outlets for the news links shared & viewed on their platforms. (Here's a Q&A that might be helpful.)  Google is also threatening to remove my (& other Canadians') ability to see news articles there because of this legislation. A similar situation happened in Australia a while back;  that dispute was eventually resolved.  

Personally, I don't rely on social media for my news, as some people say they do -- although I do share articles there. I have digital subscriptions to several online newspapers and other publications (Canadian and American), and I get daily email newsletters from most of them, highlighting articles that might be of interest to me. I also get notifications from my news apps on my phone.  (I do find some pretty interesting articles from international publications via Facebook & Instagram posts from CNBC friends there.)  We also watch daily newscasts on CBC TV, and CNN and/or the CBC News Network channels are our default viewing when nothing else is on that we want to watch.  So I think I will be able to stay pretty well informed.  

Still, it's annoying to see this message popping up in my feed: 

And it's annoying not to be able to share a good article that I've found with my friends on Facebook -- or to read the ones that those outside of Canada have posted there. 

I've read the arguments from both sides. As a former journalist, my sympathies are with the news organizations, whose business models were completely upended by the advent of the Internet & social media, which has drawn away the advertising & subscriber dollars that keep them running. Media outlets are going under at an alarming rate, local media in particular.  This is a U.S. example, but the local weekly newspaper in the next county over from where my mother grew up just ceased publication (along with several others in the area),  leaving the county without local news for the first time in well over a century.  The local newspaper in Mom's home town/county, in operation since 1882, is still chugging along... fingers crossed!!  

As a user of both traditional & social media, my main feeling is that, as usual, we the people are getting the short end of the stick. :(  

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here

1 comment:

  1. I can tell you that as a New Zealander, I am very familiar with the "not available in your region." It applies for competitions, numerous videos, even books on Amazon etc. I feel your pain!

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