AOL Inc.’s acquisition last week of the popular online publication The Huffington Post has left many wondering if the online news landscape could be shifting.
The deal, which cost AOL $315 million, pairs the media services company with a website largely seen as representative of the political left. The Huffington Post was founded by political activist Arianna Huffington in 2005 as a counter to conservative sites like the Drudge Report.
AOL, which had its heyday in the mid-1990s when dial-up connections were considered advanced, is seeking to remain relevant in an expanding online landscape. The Huffington Post, meanwhile, could have its influence increase with the help of a major financial and advertising partner.
Marc Cooper, a former senior editor of The Huffington Post who ran its citizen journalism project during the 2008 presidential campaign, said the move could benefit The Huffington Post a lot more than AOL.
“The Huffington Post is young and vibrant and healthy,” Cooper said. “AOL is a zombie organization that has been dying an agonizing death.”
“Even though AOL paid the money, it’s really like the Huffington Post bought AOL,” he continued.
Cooper, now an associate professor of political science at the University of Southern California, said he sees AOL downsizing in the future because it won’t need as many employees to produce online content.
Huffington, who signed a multiyear contract with the company, will become the editor-in-chief of a staff of about 700, overseeing content from The Huffington Post to AOL’s tech blogs Engadget and TechCrunch.
Political analysts have speculated that AOL’s content as a whole could become more liberal with Huffington in charge. But whether that happens might not matter in the big picture, said John McAdams, an associate professor of political science.
“On the American journalistic landscape, if Huffington does manage to make AOL News essentially a liberal outlet, it won’t make that much difference,” McAdams said.
McAdams said because of the variety of news sources available, most Americans only watch and read the content they agree with. Cooper also pointed out that The Huffington Post has grown in recent years by de-emphasizing politics in general.
Lawrence Soley, chair of the department of journalism, said the move could be a response to News Corp.’s recent unveiling of its tablet-only newspaper, The Daily. But Cooper said, regardless of its financial dealings, AOL might not last long.
“AOL is a hollow company,” Cooper said. “Their business strategy has shifted to becoming a content provider, and they failed pretty miserably at that.”
AOL originally saw great success in the 1990s as an internet service provider. But Cooper said the vast majority of the company’s original customers are now gone, and those that are left don’t use all of AOL’s services.
“They’re low-information users, and don’t understand how the internet works,” Cooper said. “They use the AOL e-mail address that they had originally, but they don’t realize that they can get to that portal without being a subscriber.”