They want the rank and file to see this massively-reduced output as a blessing of some kind.
I agree. They can't have it both ways. For decades, the org has claimed that the magazines are essential spiritual food, part of the "bountiful provisions" from God. Yet in the last decade, GB2.0 have slashed both the size and frequency of the magazines to a fraction of their previous content.
GB2.0 would probably claim that they've replaced this with all the videos and animated content, and that as a result the "spiritual food" is now even more plentiful, but we all know the online and media material is considerably dumbed down now.
There is so much that could be done with video and animation formats that would actually be interesting, but it's usually just sentimental videos or articles of bullet point lists with linked scriptures, rather than convincing reasoning or explanations, or even realistic scenarios of how Bible principles can be applied in everyday life.
Where in the past they would often include verses from other Bible translations and give at least some historical background for context (in publications like the SI book for example), now there is barely any of that in either printed material or the website.
We thought things were bad before, trying to keep up with all the magazines, but I'd much rather read through a WT or Awake of old than watch an episode of "The GB Show" on their televangelist channel, with their cringe-worthy comments like "we all loooove you verrry much!" At least those old articles were anonymous and not used to promote the individual writers, unlike the videos of the GB and their Helpers these days which portray them as 'TV stars'.
