JOURNALISM IN THE ATTENTION ECONOMY: the relation between digital platforms and news organizations1

ABSTRACT This article analyzes the relationship between news organizations and the digital platforms Facebook and Google, based on the attention economy and the concept of audience commodity. The article explains the way these organizations currently compete in the attention market. It sets out how the Silicon Valley companies have acquired a central and dominant position in the distribution of informative content by capturing the attention of users, and, therefore, the sale of the audience as a commodity. This situation has affected the advertising-revenue-based business model of news organizations.