Quote:
Originally Posted by tubemonkey
That's what advertising is for.
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Not entirely. Advertising is not "magic money", it is someone else paying.
Where adverts are your only source of income, it does affect what you do. This is both through fear (i.e. if I publish this article, will I loose advertising revenue?), and through actual pressure (i.e. listen -- publish that article and you'll lose all my ads), among other factors.
Now, admittedly, something with a wide and diverse set of advertisers and other income is, at least partially immune from that. However, as soon as you become large enough to matter (i.e. to generate the sort of revenue to support serious full time journalism), then this sort of pressure can be applied.
Sadly, as the websites have shown, the advertising revenue from them (e.g. via google adwords or via direct sales) just doesn't get anywhere near enough to run a major operation. Those few news sites that appear to make money either do so through "free" journalism (i.e. those that are supported in the ways that concern me) or via cross-support from other areas.