>The people were hobbyists and the businesses had other projects.

Yes, but my point is that publishing to the web doesn't require advertising on the web. Nor does advertising on the web require javascript.

>Relying on "interested members of the public" for news is how people like Alex Jones get started.

It's how a lot of people got started. You seem to be implying some relationship between the presence of political extremism and the absence of advertising, but I don't see any evidence the two are correlated.

The point is: large businesses have reputations. They are knowable and generally accountable. They can also protect themselves legally.

Semi-anonymous writers posting blogs are none of those.