Opening with attempted controversy this week by buying into the ‘Google vs the media’ controversy which, like so many before it, looks to be really a simple issue when dissected.
To PS-sssst! the core of the controversy is that traditional media has lost its advertising revenue which has been hi-jacked by Facebook, Google and other social communication platforms.
By publishing the ads, the platforms make millions from the work of others who, quite understandably, think they should be compensated for their losses.
But there is a centuries-old precedent here that is not being respected.
Traditionally, in Australia and indeed most of the world, communication services such as platforms are just that, platforms. Telstra, for example, provides the platform of a telephone service. Australia Post provides the platform of a message delivery service.
Neither of them are penalised when someone uses their service to commit a crime like defamation, bribery, forgery, fraud etc.
Similarly, neither of them publish advertising as part of their service – so Telstra doesn’t run an ad before it connects us to a caller nor Australia post print advertising on our envelopes before it delivers them.
Whoever believes Facebook and Google think they can publish advertising while being an impartial ‘platform’ at the same time has lost the plot.
If they want to be a publisher, so be it as long as they take responsibility for the material they publish, just as every other publisher in the world has to.
If they want to be an innocent communications platform, so be it too, but it means they can’t profit from the publication of advertising, regardless of how technically clever it might be.
Problem solved? The solution is to outlaw platforms from overstepping their boundaries and reward publishers for controlling what they publish.
Just like the past hundred years or more!
The Ooops factor
A big warm thankyou now to Janet H of the Tasmanian Department of Education now for being so kind as to point out another rare (Oh yeah!!) typing error appearing mysteriously in PS News as we apparently take longer than usual to adapt to the comparative stresslessness of 2021 compared to its badly behaved big brother 2020.
Choosing the national public holiday Australia Day to pore through an offguard and unsuspecting PS News in her spare time, Janet spilled the beans and dobbed the unsuspecting scandal sheet’s shortcoming while the rest of the nation was out partying.
“However, as a literacy pro, and as you would want to know, I have to tell you there is a glaring error on your email opening page,” the eagle-eyed Janet accused.
“The article written by Lisa E McLeod ‘Three ways to detox the boss’ has ‘through’ and ‘throw’ confused,” she explained colourfully. “Oops!”
Oops indeed!
“(And) while I have your attention, I noticed the link from that article does not work.”
Correct on all counts!
As always, PS-sssst! rewards readers who keep us on our toes by kicking us from time to time when a blunder bobbles out, otherwise we’d never know,
Our gratitude is made in the shape of a ‘PS-sssst! Pack’ in which we send out some token trinkets of thanks for taking the trouble to transmit a thought or two.
Congratulations Janet, yours will be on its way shortly.
Tracking the trail
Good news now from Queensland with the State’s National Parks and Wildlife Service inviting the community to express their views on a draft plan for proposed horse-riding activities in one of the State’s south eastern national parks.
“This draft plan proposes how we will assess, rationalise and formalise horse-riding trails in this area,” an NPWS director explained.
“We’re proposing to formalise a series of low-impact riding trails that essentially follow existing park management trails,” he said.
Far be it from PS-sssst! to question anything relating to national parks or horses but we do have form for going in to bat for the Australian language.
And so it is that we went to the trouble of translating the American ‘trail’ to the Australian ‘track’ when we reported the story in the past week or so.
Australia is blessed with ‘tracks’ all over its continent – Canberra has Settlers Track, NSW and Victoria share the Australian Alps Walking track, Tasmania has its Three Capes track, Queensland its walking tracks, and WA its 4WD tracks, – and internationally we have the revered Kokoda track and others.
In contrast America has its American Horse Trails, its Heritage trails and internationally its Freedom Trail across the Pyrenees.
Too many Australians gave their lives and sacrificed their freedoms on Australia’s Kokoda track alone for the rest of us to Macdonaldise it as a ‘trail’ when the Australian meaning of the word (according to Mr Oxford) is ‘something that trails or hangs trailing’.
Our language, if nothing else, deserves better.
The return of Rama
And while we’re on good news, the amazingly large numbers of PS News readers who enter Rama Gaind’s runaway giveaways every week will be glad to know it’s all happening again, right now, right here and for all the right reasons.
So take a look at Rama’s collection of book reviews this week – at this PS News link – and join the Rama Army of lucky plucky prizewinners who become new owners of books and/or DVDs each week and every week from now to Christmas!
Till next week…..
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