Earlier quoted context omitted.
> GNN (Global Network Navigator) was not an advertising service. It was the first commercial online magazine. Isn't that the same thing? With a couple of exceptions, magazines are advertising services first and foremost, in as much as the overwhelming majority of their revenue comes from ads.
I don’t want to argue about magazines (or newspapers) in general, since it seems you have quite a cynical view there. I’d advise that you research common standards of journalism, including the concept of the editorial/advertising wall. But I’ll tell you that the the existence of GNN itself, in 1993, was certainly not for the purpose of serving ads. Heck, as I explained, online advertising didn’t even exist at that ti…
My cynicism comes not from being ignorant of traditional newspapers but from having been very close to them. My experience is that people (in any industry really) may be decent, noble, and above any such influence on any conscious level, and yet they will nevertheless show an almost magical tendency to act in alignment with their economic interests, even when they seem to have reached their position on wholly unrelated grounds.