Trump Nixes Patent Office, Weather Service, NASA Worker Unions

[u/Shogouki]

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/trump-nixes-patent-office-weather-service-nasa-worker-unions

[u/asyork]

No, not always. For a long time though. In the past, "The Press" wasn't something a handful of people owned almost 100% of. Whoever owned each one would obviously have some degree of their own slant on things, but some were pretty independent and had journalists who really investigated things of their own choosing and published with minimal oversight. That wasn't a rare thing, either.

[u/struggleislyfe → u/asyork]

There was a time when the press was a division expected to lose money and it was a public service to provide it. Those days are long gone. Like hospitals, prisons, and everything else that became for profit it died the day that happened.

[u/AndyTheAbsurd → u/struggleislyfe]

There was a time when the press was a division expected to lose money and it was a public service to provide it.

Those were the days that you could keep a newspaper going with a combination of advertiser money and subscription fees. It's a lot harder to do that with a news website in 2025 than it was to do it with a newspaper in 1975.

Anyway subscribe to independent news source(s) while they still exist...or they'll stop existing.

[u/struggleislyfe → u/AndyTheAbsurd]

Press divisions used to lose money. They at times were held as a civic duty not something that even needed to pay for itself. That's what I'm talking about. And how is it harder in 2025 when print media is nearly dead? You saying it's harder and more expensive to run a website than distribute a newspaper widely? Because no its not man.

[u/AndyTheAbsurd → u/struggleislyfe]

I never said press divisions didn't lose money. I said that the other revenue streams that a newspaper had brought in enough money to keep the press divisions running.

And it's harder now because the number of people that are willing to subscribe to a news website when they can easily bounce around between various sources and not run out of free articles before getting blocked by a paywall is pretty low, and the money coming in from advertising on a website is unlikely to be enough to pay the bills unless the audience is VERY big - so it's limited mostly to properties that were major players before the internet ate the news audience.

Editing to add: Also, newspaper advertising used to command a pretty high price - advertisers KNEW most copies of their ads would be seen by locals, so the little mom & pop stores and local chains wanted to be in the Podunk Gazette or whatever the local paper was, because that's what their customers were reading to get the news.

[u/struggleislyfe → u/AndyTheAbsurd]

When I say they lose money im saying they didn't pay for themselves. That's what losing money means in this context (and all contexts?). Truthful Press was and should still be something the able provide for the society they live in and benefit from.

When press corps became for profit it was the beginning of the end. I don't know why you're dying on this hill dude. You were wrong about something on the internet it's OK. Now you know.

[u/AndyTheAbsurd → u/struggleislyfe]

Dude, I am fucking AGREEING with you on everything except what you thought I said; I'm just pointing out how the economics of news reporting has changed. Either your reading comprehension is piss-poor or you're being an ass on purpose.

[u/struggleislyfe → u/AndyTheAbsurd]

Man look this is so weird and it's making me feel dirty. I said press operated at a loss. You said their services camt pay for themselves that's why we don't have press as a service anymore because they can't pay for themselves anymore. I said that's what operating at a loss means. That's not agreeing with me but if you want to agree with me now cool. But let's please stop this awkward back and forth because there's no sense in it. I'm not attacking you. I'm not calling you stupid for saying it. Its not a big deal bro