Platforms and public interest journalism, with Sameer Padania

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It has been a whirlwind few weeks for big tech platforms. Elon Musk's debut as a Twitter boss has been marked by layoffs of important teams and catastrophic changes to the verification system. It has led many to speculate that the platform may fold.

Meta, meanwhile, has announced its own job layoffs, signalling its withdrawal of support for the news industry. Many have said the writing has been on the wall ever since conceding defeat on the News Bargaining Code stand-off between Australia together with Google. Google on the other hand has also been in the news this week for the wrong reasons, with its record $391.5m privacy settlement for tracking the location of unconsenting users.

It is not so easy for news organisations to leave these platforms, though. In fact, big tech platforms can be a force for good in journalism, especially in countries where media organisations cannot take funding from governments or philanthropists, because it can compromise their integrity and independence.

These news organisations saw the rug being pulled from beneath them. So, how do they learn to stand on their own and sustain crucial news coverage?

In this week's podcast, we talk to Sameer Padania, lead consultant for Macroscope, an independent consultancy supporting journalism, human rights and philanthropy. He has also worked with a number of grant-making organisations in journalism, such as Nesta, the Google News Initiative and Open Society, which gives him a unique of how news organisations can become and remain sustainable.

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