In 2016, between his resignation from Politico and the founding of news startup Axios, Jim VandeHei caused a stir in the digital media world by accusing several peers of falling into the “crap trap” – “mass-producing trashy clickbait so they can claim huge audiences”.

Four years on, and the journalist-turned-entrepreneur is happy to report that the “crap trap” is largely behind us, in part because clicks weren’t translating into cash.

Unfortunately, in 2020, Axios’ chief executive has identified a new – potentially more significant – issue for the news industry to overcome.