The suits are being filed on behalf of some 30 different companies by a unified front of lawyers and law firms. About 200 newspapers spread out across the country are represented by those companies. A full list of publications that are involved was published by Axios. The suits have been consolidated in New York state, which allows for the pleadings, judgments, and findings of similar legal cases to be considered as one.
The legal volleys use arguments that are similar to those used in the Texas Attorney General's anti-trust suit last year. They want to recover past damages to newspapers, asking for payouts that are in line with the money that has been taken out of the industry.
If the newspapers win, they could be entitled to significant remuneration via something called "treble damages", which pay settlements that are three times the damages that have been proven.
Doug Reynolds, managing partner of HD Media, one of the companies suing, said that the companies are more powerful than Standard Oil was in its heyday. Reynolds told the Wall Street Journal that the political and legal climate had moved in their favor.
G/O Media might get a commission.
[.
It's onamzn.to/3DqFFKY.
For less, catch more Z's.
The Sleepbuds II have a soft, comfortable fit that is meant for falling asleep in.
Newspapers haven't been doing so well lately, so it shouldn't be too surprising. The industry's ad revenues have fallen by a staggering 62% over the past decade, according to a study from last year. The weekday circulation of newspapers dropped from over 50 million in 2007 to some 28 million by the year 2018, while newsroom employment halved.
The companies that make a killing through ad revenue are like Google. More than 80% of the company's revenue came from its advertising business, according to CNBC.
The decline of journalism in America is not a direct correlation with the success of the company. When contacted by Gizmodo, a person from the company provided us with a statement.
These claims are not correct. The online advertising space is crowded and competitive, our ad tech fees are lower than reported industry averages, and publishers keep the vast majority of revenue earned when using our products. We provide billions of dollars to support quality journalism in the digital age and are one of the world's leading financial supporters of journalism.
It is true that the news industry is getting a lot of money from Google, but it is a pittance compared to the ad revenue that papers had before.
I have worked for a regional newspaper for several years and have seen how difficult it is to keep the lights on, and how low the wages are. Whether these lawsuits are successful or not, they are drawing attention to a significant issue, which is how little money is rattling around in the journalism industry these days.
We reached out to Facebook and will update this story if they respond.
