With layoffs, bankruptcies, and fire sales emanating from the digital publishing industry on an almost daily basis, there’s constant debate about whether online media outlets deserve the blame for being out-maneuvered by the tech platforms that destroyed their business models. The industry’s harshest critics argue that, at almost every turn, publishers ceded power to the Facebooks, Googles, and Craigslists of the world. These derelict publishers failed to innovate, gave their content away for free, and then placated themselves with voodoo economics and easy VC cash. I tend to take a more charitable view of how publishers behaved over the past…
