• Phegan@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Mainstream media benefits from another trump presidency. Trump drives ratings. Ratings means sponsors, sponsors mean revenue, revenue means shares going up.

    They are corporations, not services. It’s illegal for them to not do what helps their shareholders.

    Mainstream media benefits from another trump presidency.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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      2 months ago

      It’s illegal for them to not do what helps their shareholders.

      This has been repeatedly shown false. They have a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders, not a legal one. As Tim Apple once told an investor asking about gains on their push for environmental greenness as a company, he told them that if all they want is for the number to go up they should get out of the stock.

      Cook then offered his own bottom line to Danhof, or any other critic, one which perfectly sums up his belief that social and political and moral leadership are not antithetical to running a business. “If that’s a hard line for you,” Cook continued, “then you should get out of the stock.”

      https://alearningaday.blog/2016/03/12/tim-cook-on-roi

    • orcrist@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Corporations do not have to prioritize profit above everything. The old case where that was in question is quite nuanced and worth reading about.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Businesses also have wide latitude in how they interpret profit mandate. They’re allowed to make purely gut-driven predictions and take huge risks with little evidence on the grounds that a payoff is on the horizon.

        Tim Cook could blandly assert that environmental greenness does increase profits and then just hand wave in some fuzzy math about hypothetical waste management or non-renewable material costs or public sentiment. And who could argue with him over a 20 year time horizon?

        You can say whatever you want as a CEO and most people will reflexively trust you simply because you’re in a position of authority.

    • xenoclast@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      They ARE services. They’re not services run for the benefit of the public.

      I think we all got a little messed up by the few years that journalism had a bit of credibility. For the vast vast vast majority of humans on earth all forms of mass communication have been propaganda for those in power… I mean look at the Catholic Church for the best modern example

        • wagesj45@fedia.io
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          2 months ago

          I’m gonna posit a guess of around 1930 through the late 90’s when the internet started eating everyone’s lunch for “free”.

          (I am not a news historian and this is purely a guess.)

    • Sgt_choke_n_stroke@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Yea it’s now an election of the old school vs new school and the passing of the torch. Boomers are going down kicking and screaming