The Media
Where the news reaches people and who pays for it: the audiences and the trust gap; who owns what after the 2025-26 deals, and who funds the rest; where the money went, and the new money from licensing to AI companies; the platforms and the answer engines; the independents and the creators; the state as funder and adversary; and what the evidence says about misinformation and the loss of local news. Four questions are argued both ways before the course's reading, from whether the platforms should pay for news to whether the press is dying or transforming. Three worked examples, from one city's news traced to its owners and funders to an independent writer's economics against a staff job.