It's no secret that news publishers have a love-hate relationship with the tech giants that dominate the digital landscape. On one hand, these platforms have become essential conduits for delivering news content to ever-expanding audiences. But on the other, publishers are constantly frustrated by the asymmetric power dynamics and the perceived exploitation of their hard-earned reporting. The question is, does this apparent hypocrisy of criticizing the very platforms they depend on make them, well, hypocrites?
A Necessary Evil?
The reality is that for most news organizations, cutting ties with the Googles and Facebooks of the world simply isn't a viable option. As Nieman Lab points out, "Sure, pulling your site from Google search isn't a feasible option for a media company in 2026." These platforms have become the dominant gateways to digital audiences, and news publishers know that abandoning them would be commercial suicide.
What this really means is that publishers are trapped in a symbiotic - if deeply unequal - relationship with the tech behemoths. They may decry the "theft" of ad dollars and content, but they continue to feed the beast because the alternative is potentially catastrophic. It's a classic case of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" - even if that "friend" is more akin to a frenemy.
The Bigger Picture
The deeper issue here is the fundamental power imbalance between news publishers and the tech platforms. As Frontiers in Communication reports, the business models and global reach of companies like Google and Facebook "challenge existing regulatory frameworks" and can "reduce competition in media and advertising services markets." In other words, the tech giants wield an outsized influence that threatens the very survival of independent journalism.
So while news publishers may seem hypocritical in their complaints, the bigger picture is one of an industry struggling to retain autonomy and sustainability in the face of overwhelming market forces. As Voices Media observes, national news organizations are often "exculpated from any fault of their own" by casting themselves as underdogs against "monolithic but amorphous 'Big Tech'." The reality is more complex, with both sides benefiting and suffering from an uneasy codependency.