The Journalist's New Clothes
In this Thursday edition of ‘The G-L Review,’ Nathan Graber-Lipperman dishes out his informal takes on the intersection of media, business, and culture. For this letter, NGL touches on the relationship between trust and appearance, Ev Williams teaming up with Colin Kaepernick, and the idiocy of AMC. You can read his last letter here and other work from him here.
So it’s obviously not Thursday morning, but I figured I would give some breathing room after sending three letters in four days. I’m currently re-thinking my timing + the amount of content I’m sending per week, so if you have any feedback on what you like (and what you don’t like) about our letters, let me know!
Also, you might notice a little bit of different formatting on this letter. I finally made the jump to Substack. It took a long time, but I became so damn fed up with Mailchimp’s CMS and formatting that I figured it was time for a change.
Last week, I wrote all about the burgeoning world of newsletters, as well as how new services like Hey are evolving to fit your content needs. I truly believe in this medium of “passive distribution” from both a creator and consumer standpoint; it’s an effective way to hone in on niches and thus build community. Having said that, I’ve found that the tools you use are really, really important.
Writing can be difficult. I often find I go through long periods of time dealing with a complete mental block, only to sit down one day for eight hours at a time and just go. Therefore, for me, the ease-of-use and aesthetics of a CMS are probably the most important things when I’m typing. In this regard, I’ve always loved Medium, but given they don’t do newsletters very well, I was kind of stuck copying and pasting stuff to Mailchimp for a while.
Which was infuriating. So I’m trying Substack, and I have to say, I’m only five paragraphs in and you can chalk me up as a fan. I’ll have more updates as I continue to try out the platform, but I will say, if you’re considering starting a newsletter — or just writing in general — definitely do your research before setting up an account. Are you looking to sell products, deliver longform content, or something else entirely? These are the important questions to ask before diving in.
Speaking of diving in — let’s get into to it!
All Gas No Brakes
AGNB Founder and Face Andrew Callaghan at Midwest FurFest in January (All Gas No Brakes / YouTube)
With The Daily Show first airing in 1996, Jon Stewart popularized something seldom done before: he combined commentary with comedy, toeing the line between journalist and entertainer.
Since then, this model has been tried and tested by plenty of other people, from Stephen Colbert’s satirical take on Bill O’Reilly with The Colbert Report; to Jesse Watters and the painful, flat-out cringe-worthy world of Watters’ World; to John Oliver and his scintillating, heavily-researched, 20-minute deep dives into newsworthy topics on Last Week Tonight.
What’s clear is that this brand of injecting humor into news — a oft-successful combo — is not going anywhere anytime soon. However, for many journalism purists, there’s an inherent problem here, and it’s the concept of objectivity.
For me, well, I don’t really consider myself a journalist — never have, never will. If you’ve followed along with my writing for a bit, you’ve probably seen that I delve more into the realm of creative essays than to-the-point articles.
But many journalists strive for objectivity in the pursuit of facts. Whether or not it’s possible to be truly objective is a conversation for another day (one that I have many takes on). What I’m more focused on here is that fleeting little thing known as trust.
There’s a clip from when Jon Stewart went on the CNN political debate show Crossfire only to roast both hosts (including a younger, bow-tie-clad Tucker Carlson) and talk about why media like this “hurts America.” He accused them of being “partisan hacks” that played right into the hands of politicians and their PR teams, whereas their true responsibility was to inform the American people. Because if the news anchors weren’t informing Americans, Stewart said, the responsibility fell on comedians like himself, who are really just there to crack jokes and make people laugh.
Stewart essentially dug the grave for CNN himself, as Crossfire is most famous for getting cancelled shortly after this episode first aired. Over 15 years later, though, his words still ring true. We’re living in a hyper-polarized environment (just look at the split on coronavirus concerns) where social media platforms have replaced cable as our preferred medium, operating on business models that prey on emotion, attention, and time.
In other words, from a capitalistic standpoint, there’s never been a better time to be a “partisan hack” — looking at you, OAN.
This brings me back to the idea of trust. Who do you trust when it comes to how you get your information? Is it rooted in the “professionalism” of the content itself, or the setting in which that content is conveyed?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot in the wake of the protests in Minneapolis. I consumed a lot of news from different mediums at the beginning of the month, between reading newspapers, listening to podcasts, watching broadcast streams, and yes, scrolling through Twitter. And yet, out of everything I took in, the thing that informed me the most about what was happening on the ground in East Dakota was…a YouTube video.
From a 22-year-old comedian-journalist named Andrew Callaghan.
Since he was a kid, Callaghan has always had a knack for offering a lens into worlds many of us never see up close; he once called Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye “boring” because the rebellious fictional character never worked on the streets of New Orleans at night. And while his uber-popular channel, All Gas No Brakes, often chronicles the ridiculous — such as Furry and Flat-Earther conventions alike — his coverage of Minneapolis was eye-opening.
Journalism is often touted as the act of “giving a voice to the voiceless,” providing the perspectives of those who can’t do it themselves. Though this sentiment has problems in of itself, I do think that Callaghan does a phenomenal job of inserting himself into a situation, providing some levity, and sitting back to let his interviewees and surroundings become the story, not himself.
Oftentimes, this works because he’s a normal-looking dude who talks like a normal human being. In most of his videos, he’s rocking an oversized thrift store suit, though in Minneapolis, the hoodie does the trick. And it works, because people, well, trust him!
“I’ve always noticed that I learn best when I’m laughing,” Callaghan told VICE back in April. Therefore, as the world becomes more and more digitized, maybe it is the role of funny people to inform us.
As Stewart noted, the satire only works if the “professionals” are doing their jobs. Callaghan got on-the-ground footage from inside a store as it was being looted — as well as interviews with people brimming with raw emotion after they helped burn down buildings — and to be honest, there’s not a whole lot of satire present in the video.
To be clear, I’m not mounting criticism on the entirety of journalism. There have been plenty of people doing incredible work — reporters aren’t a monolith, and most of them lead with good intentions.
To tie this whole thing together, though, is my main question: who’s to say we can’t trust the guy wearing the hoodie on YouTube more than the person in formal attire wearing makeup while sitting at a desk on television?
I know I certainly do.
Kaepernick Publishing, Meet Medium
Kaep’s name is gonna go down in history books tbh (Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images)
In 2019, former Niners QB Colin Kaepernick launched Kaepernick Publishing LLC. There’s not a whole lot on the site as it stands, other than a reference to the book Kaep will be releasing at some point in the near future. However, there is some info in regards to their mission:
Kaepernick Publishing believes reading is a liberator of the mind and will give us the thoughts and ideas to free our bodies. By elevating a new generation of writers and creators, we seek to inspire all generations of readers and listeners through the development and publication of meaningful works of all genres with the focus of amplifying diverse views and voices.
It’s certainly well-worded and appears to have a noble purpose, but the company didn’t seem to have a lot of direction. That is, until Ev Williams recently stepped in.
Williams is one of the co-founders of Twitter who went on to start Medium, his attempt to democratize longform writing and publishing by forming an easy-to-use, aesthetically-pleasing CMS platform. Medium has now been around for eight years, but even after raising $132 million in venture capital and making countless pivots, it’s still not profitable. Additionally, it has dealt with the critical problem many other social medias face: does it want to be in the business of publishing, or run strictly on user-generated content?
This is an important question when it comes to content for a couple reasons. First, Medium’s mission statement reads as such:
Medium's mission is to deepen readers' understanding of the world and to empower writers to share their best work and biggest ideas…our product allows the best ideas to rise to the top and elevates the most passionate, diverse voices.
Again, sounds all and well — I’m a big fan of the vision Williams and Co. paint. The problem is, however, when articles like “How To Skyrocket Your Medium Followers To 1,000 In 4 Months” get more engagement and views than, ya know, the actual stories. Therefore, if the company resides as just a platform, it’s difficult to ensure that quality doesn’t suffer, particularly when you claim your product “allows the best ideas to rise to the top and elevate the most passionate, diverse voices.”
Medium founder Ev Williams (Bloomberg)
Second, there’s legal implications. If you’ve been following the news, you’ve probably seen Facebook and Twitter continuously getting hammered in the debate about Big Tech’s responsibility with political discourse. Social medias have always been able to defend themselves by claiming they’re not liable for what users say on their platforms as opposed to a publisher. Therefore, if Medium leans too heavily into publishing, all of a sudden, they might be responsible for all of their content — not just what they’ve invested in.
Nevertheless, what Williams has succeeded in doing is building a product people like to use (and peruse). With over 170 million monthly active users, Medium has the power to connect unique and important voices to an audience who certainly seems to be more inclined towards learning than the average online consumer.
Which is where Colin Kaepernick comes in, and why I think this is a match made in heaven. Medium is bringing Kaep onto their board of directors in partnering with his company, and the athlete/activist will also be writing stories and working on features for various publications like Level and Momentum.
For Kaep, he now gets an enthusiastic partner that has backing, direction, an audience, and shared values. He’ll be able to create new opportunities for Black writers and creators while holding an incredibly influential seat at the table.
For Medium, they get one of the most prominent figures in the world today. Williams said it himself in a statement: “Colin’s voice and actions have led the discussion on racial justice, and the world is finally catching up to him.” His company has lacked in brand visibility up until this point; now, there’s a better reason to listen.
The Death of a Cinema
Theaters have been on their way out; COVID may have struck the finishing blow (JLN Photography / Shutterstock)
You don’t have to be the most avid reader to know that the medium of the big screen has been going out of style in recent years.
There’s plenty of things to point to as the killer. Consumer preference is the obvious one, with streaming becoming more and more normalized (since 2011, Netflix’s stock has increased by 1800%). Also, we’re ordering in food more through apps like Grubhub and Postmates, making it easier to enjoy dinner and a movie at the same time, from your couch. To top it all off, going to the theater is just plain expensive; between parking, tickets, and food + drink, I’ve heard stories of people paying $45 per person in cities like New York and Los Angeles.
And yet, cinemas have fought and clawed their way to remain relevant over the last decade. Box office numbers were down in 2019, but that’s also because they hit record highs the previous year. It’s certainly still a 10-figure industry.
Just look at AMC, the largest theater chain in the world. The company hit a low point in 2012 to the tune of $811 million until surging to $5.47 billion in revenue last year alone. Analysts point to blockbuster films — such as Infinity War and The Force Awakens — as becoming mainstream, tent-pole events that you had to see in theaters.
In essence, the theater industry was invested heavily in FOMO.
The problem is, what happens when going to a cinema becomes a health hazard due to a global pandemic? Studios pull out, theaters close, films are moved to streaming, and the consumer wins big. There’s no longer any worry for movie fans because everyone’s in the same boat, hanging out on their couch. Without the MO, there’s no FOMO.
The delightful, colorful Trolls World Tour might’ve murdered theaters (DreamWorks Animation / Universal)
Case in point: Trolls World Tour, the sequel to the so-so 2016 kids movie Trolls. In March, their marketing team decided to go all in on the film’s digital release, selling it as a watch party with the entire world. In turn, after three weeks of digital release, World Tour made more money for Universal Pictures than the original did during five months in theaters. Most movie execs’ main obsession is — and will always be — their bottom line, so you better believe many around the industry have taken note of the success of this specific rollout.
Which brings me back to AMC. Variety reported that the chain will be opening its locations back up starting on July 15, even as cases of coronavirus start to rise again across the country. Past just that, though, is a specific mandate coming from AMC: not all patrons of their theaters will be required to wear masks because the company is “wary of wading into a public health issue that has become politicized.”
“We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy,” said [AMC CEO Adam] Aron. “We thought it might be counterproductive if we forced mask wearing on those people who believe strongly that it is not necessary.”
Aron added on that he believes most guests will be wearing masks, and they’ll be leaning on technological solutions to clean individual rooms. But this slip in foresight really seems counterproductive and, quite frankly, stupid.
Look, I’m a major film nerd. I think the fact that I call movies “films” in the first place shows that I’m a nerd. I like going to see big-name movies in theaters. I also like seeing smaller-name movies in theaters.
I’ve even brought pen and paper to a movie before to take notes on what I saw.
But what’s mind-boggling to me is that the safety of patrons seems to be less important than pissing off a fraction of your customers. If someone way smarter than me (i.e. a health official) tells me that wearing a mask is important in reducing my potential spread of a mysterious, dangerous virus, I’m going to wear a mask, full-stop.
I really don’t understand what’s “political” or “controversial” about this, and I find it dangerous that the act of mask-wearing has now become a partisan issue. Decisions like AMC’s only make people more polarized, and honestly, it does the opposite of incentivizing me (a big movie buff) to go to the theater when I don’t know who’s gonna be sitting in the same room as me and all of the people they’ve been around.
While generating revenue in the present, the future of theaters wasn’t looking too hot even before COVID-19 came to town. I understand the rush to get moviegoers’ butts back in seats — it’s a business, after all — but this just isn’t the way to go about it.
Quite frankly, it might even accelerate the decaying process.
Hey! Thanks for reading this edition of ‘The G-L Review.’ If you liked it, consider sharing it with a friend, and if you want to keep the conversation going, comment below or send me a reply at ngl@powderbluemedia.com. Also, follow us on Twitter to see what’s coming next from myself and my team!