Dubai: Journalists are being made redundant everyday, everywhere. An avalanche of layoffs have become part of the monthly rhythm in news organisations. Its members have only the foggiest idea about what hit them. There’s a flip side to this story: the media are seeing a growing audience, almost everywhere. 2020 was the bumper year for news. There’s a whole world of evidence for this, as shown from data analytics tools. People on a massive scale seek out out credible, fact-checked information, especially about the coronavirus. In general, community media are witnessing the biggest online traffic spike. Despite the rising relevance of news, a lion’s share of ad money goes to Facebook and Google. Here’s the long and short of why these the two media giants must pay for news: