54 – Can you handle the Truth: The Future of News

The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Can you handle the truth? What is the future of news? Are we at a Spotify moment? Do we even care about the truth?

Navigation:

1. Intro (01:34)
2. Mainstream vs Niche News (02:09)
3. Are we Close to the Spotify/Netflix moment? (29:30)
4. State or Government Ownership and Influence of Media (46:06)
5. Polarization & The Truth (58:36)
6. Year of Election (1:05:10)
7. Conclusion (1:09:21) 

Our co-hosts:

• Bertrand Schmitt, Entrepreneur in Residence at Red River West, co-founder of App Annie / Data.ai, business angel, advisor to startups and VC funds, @bschmitt
• Nuno Goncalves Pedro, Investor, Managing Partner, Founder at Chamaeleon, @ngpedro

Our show: Tech DECIPHERED brings you the Entrepreneur and Investor views on Big Tech, VC and Start-up news, opinion pieces and research. We decipher their meaning, and add inside knowledge and context. Being nerds, we also discuss the latest gadgets and pop culture news

Subscribe To Our Podcast

Nuno

In today’s episode of Tech Deciphered, we will be discussing the truth. Can you handle the truth and the whole truth? More specifically, we’re going to talk about the future of news, where we are today. Obviously, a lot of discussion around fake news, polarization of news.

Nuno

We will go into a conversation on whether we are close to the Spotify moment of the news space, and whether how we’re caring for the truth is still actually true. Do we still care for truth or do we just care about our own opinions and to reinforce them over time?

Bertrand

That’s a big question. I think to start about this topic, we probably want to start from this big debate that has gone pretty big over the past 10 years, but maybe even more the past five years. It’s maybe the mainstream versus niche news and all the dramatic changes that have happened in a way, thanks to internet.

Nuno

There’s the mainstream versus niche, there’s the mainstream versus speciality. Maybe let’s start with mainstream. What is mainstream news? Is it just news or do we get news through mechanisms that sometimes are not news anymore?

Bertrand

Is it still mainstream?

Nuno

Clearly, there has been a decrease in viewership of the newscasts, the news programs that we used to watch in our own countries, in the US. Now people can watch whatever they want whenever they want it. In some ways, there’s still maybe some flagship national news shows that people listen to. Obviously, there’s dedicated news channels like CNN, Fox News, of course, as well.

Nuno

Is it really where we consume our mainstream news? My view is obviously with the decreasing of viewership across the top channels, one would say maybe less so, but clearly still there is mainstream news. Fox News represents a specific side of the spectrum, but it is mainstream. CNN is as well. What’s your view, Bertrand?

Bertrand

I was asking this question only jokingly because I don’t know many people who still watch some of these mainstream news channels. My impression is that actually, first, the metrics are pretty clear. It’s a significant decline in viewership. You talk about TV, but the price is the same. A few managed to, I would say, stay somewhat relevant. Take a New York Times, take a Wall Street Journal, but even that definition of relevant is a very small viewership.

Bertrand

The numbers are extremely small in terms of who is paying for a subscription to these services. We are talking about millions at best, so that