Google minus zero

A nothingburger antitrust ruling for a search godzilla too big to kill. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 12 months ago

Beyond zero-sum media

Cases of cooperation in the brutal competition for attention. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

You don't have to quit Twitter. Just stop defending it.

A response to Jerusalem Demsas. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

What would you do to know what news consumers actually want?

The costs of understanding your audience. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

"What Google Zero Means for Journalism": Podcast with Paris Marx

On the latest episode of "Tech Won't Save Us." | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

How to be a stranger in a strange land

On exile, freedom ideologies and the independence of judgment. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

The catastrophe of knowledge work waits to be beautiful again, and interesting, and modern

From "Mad Men" to the AI era, the problems of underconsumption. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

The journalist and the fury of the capitalist

On Adam Smith and the markets for writing. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

What does a publicly traded L.A. Times even look like?

A puzzle. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Is AI compatible with democracy?

On authoritarianism and journalism in the Era of Cognitive Offloading. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

AI could cause newsprint to outlive the hyperlink

What journalists do after Google Zero. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Some other advice for young people

I'm turning 40. What did I learn? | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Corporate raiding and creator media

Where is all this headed? | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Journalism’s super-spenders and the new subscription economy

It'll take a lot more than direct subscriber support to save local news. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Can’t journalism have an "abundance agenda"?

Or is that the right question? | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

"Severance" has no central mystery

The smash Apple TV show about double lives takes a darker turn. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

How to make journalists disappear

Subtle patterns in America become explicit. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Notes on the next republic

Re-reading Rousseau's "The Social Contract." | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Some good news: States are stepping up for local journalism

A onrush of new legislation to support local news. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Investigative journalism and the rule of law

Muckraking's symbiosis with the constitutional order under Donald Trump. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

I've got a new job

Waging a new fight for local journalists across the U.S. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

What did dual-class shares just do to my democracy?

Trump/Musk, the billionaire-CEO, and the American soft spot for tyranny. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Trump's war on journalists starts now

Assessing the early damage stateside and abroad. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

TikTok came back. Then I deleted the app.

Looking for something to root for in the fight for TikTok. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

People stopped using AI during L.A.'s wildfires

AI had a trust problem when lives and homes were on the line. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Did you use AI during the L.A. wildfires?

A callout to readers. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

The power (and limits) of Watch Duty

What we can learn from the success of the L.A. wildfires' breakout info resource. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

California journalism's fiery wake-up call

How California lawmakers can support getting more of the best L.A. fire coverage. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

The sunlight through the ash

A few brighter spots in the information environment around L.A.'s fires. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Fires and the facts

The breaking-news experience is awful for consumers. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Wall Street declares war on the Associated Press

Gannett and Reuters come for one of the final corners for legacy media that had resisted the financialization of journalism. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Best ways to support journalism in 2025

Concrete ideas for news consumers, journalists and policymakers. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

What comes after "pro-democracy journalism"

Toward tomorrow's popular press. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Is a "we're Communists!" push alert really what saves TikTok?

On the power and limits of disclosure. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Australia's latest idea to make Big Tech pay for journalism

The Aussies build on the policy that started it all: an update to the News Media Bargaining Code. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Manipulating algorithms is only O.K. if you're American

On an increasingly protectionist internet, saving TikTok might not be what the First Amendment is for. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Anti-lib antitrust

How the next Trump administration's attitude toward corporate competition could be worse than nothing. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Mobs beget mobsters

On Donald Trump, Kash Patel and gangsterism in the democracy. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Making journalism-shaped widgets at the discrimination factory

Creator-based journalism has a market problem: The market is bad. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Journalism's biggest problems are now what we don't control

Journalists have a democracy problem, in addition to all our other problems. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Well, Patrick Soon-Shiong lied

The owner of the Los Angeles Times now says the Biden's administration's handling of Gaza did play a factor in his non-endorsement decision. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Journalism's fight for survival in a postliterate democracy

The truth is going out of business as technology turns us into a folk-story society, ripe for influence by a demagogue. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Lessons on media policy at the slaughter-bench of history

Contemplating the purpose of the press after the Trump revolution. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Democracy's mystique

The fight for freedom is a war on boredom. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Body horror in the body politic

Donald Trump's haunting obsession with disfigurement in the democracy. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

200,000 canceled subscriptions later, Jeff Bezos proves the point

Listen to journalists. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Why canceling subscriptions to billionaires' newsrooms hurts the wrong people

Toward a more pro-journalist approach to being pissed off. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago

Are these your kings?

Billionaire owners at Los Angeles Times and Washington Post set a standard of cowardice in facing a crucial election. | Continue reading


@mattdpearce.substack.com | 1 year ago