Why the New York Times and other papers had to partner with Facebook

[Commentary] Some of the biggest names in media have conceded that they are neither large enough nor strong enough to thrive as independent digital publishers without the help of at least one of their fearsome frenemies in Silicon Valley.

In addition to Facebook, the other frenemy, of course, is Google. Although media companies like to think that the quality of their work speaks for itself, Facebook and Google referrals steer the preponderance of the traffic to almost every news site. The Facebook deal institutionalizes as never before this long-running dependency. In addition to the trio mentioned above, the other media companies that will be funneling content to Facebook are the Atlantic, BBC News, Bild, the Guardian, National Geographic and Spiegel Online. Fearful of being left behind, it is fair to assume additional media names in the not-too-distant future will feel obliged to join too.

[Mutter is a former newspaper editor and Silicon Valley chief executive. In addition to teaching at UC Berkeley, he is a strategic consultant to global media companies.]