At this year's media congress, Ringier CEO Marc Walder announced a message that surprisingly received little response, although it contained some explosive material. He believes that the journalism business model is not sustainable, Walder told the assembled media managers and editors-in-chief. Was someone who should know speaking an unpleasant truth? Or was he simply defending his company's strategy, which consists of transforming the company into an entertainment group in which journalists are merely agents of business goals that have nothing to do with journalism?
After the outcome of the American elections, Walder's hong kong rcs data statement appears in a completely different light, as the (premature) analysis of the election results showed that journalism apparently had no effect, but social media had everything. If the facts no longer count, then there is no longer any need for the journalists who classify and interpret them.
We know, of course, that this would be a short-circuit. Democracies can only function in the long term thanks to independent, critical media. If this mechanism fails, the march towards dictatorship begins. But there is no denying that journalism has suffered greatly in recent years. Not only is there now an estimated five PR people for every journalist, but the collapsing funding base is an even greater concern. Advertisers prefer to invest in "content marketing" or put their advertising money into search engines and social media platforms. Consumers have become accustomed to everything being free and no longer want to pay for journalistic content.