134: The challenge to media brands from independent journalists

As the media digs their own grave, is there a growing challenge from independent journalists?Show more

Trust in “the media” is very low, and the lack of trust is richly deserved. The most recent example is how the media fell for Hamas disinformation about the hospital bombing in Gaza. It’s quite a black eye.

However, as bad as the various news brands are, saying that you get your news from X or TikTok makes you sound like a weirdo, despite the fact that there are a lot of credible sources who use other channels like that.

Bari Weiss, for example, who is a reputable former New York Times journalist is now on substack and such. She has her own thing called The Free Press.

There are a lot of journalists who are going out on their own, getting out from the constraints of the major networks.

Imagine that several of them started to band together. They could form their own brand, and then you wouldn’t say you got your news from X or TikTok, you’d say you got your news from that brand. X, TikTok, YouTube – whatever – would simply be channels through which you connect with that brand.

That could be an important part of the future of media brands.

You already see it in fits and starts. For example, there was a group of podcasters who dubbed themselves “the intellectual dark web.” That’s like a mini brand.

So if you had a collection of independent journalists who agreed to some basic principles, and organized themselves around a brand, that would be pretty interesting.

It sounds like a good idea, but there’s the problem of ego. A lot of these people are prima donnas, and they like working on their own. Let’s be honest, a lot of people end up working on their own because they don’t play well with others.

But this is a nascent challenge to the major media brands.

In a way, it’s more closely aligned with the original (somewhat naive and idealistic) promise of the internet. We were supposed to be able to talk to one another, and get information straight from the source without the mediation of some brand.

And then reality struck, and we discovered that the platforms themselves became tools of censorship. YouTube takes down videos that they arrogantly decide are “disinformation.”

But despite the challenges – censorship by the platforms, and the ego of the players – I think there might be an opportunity here.

Independent journalists could group together under a common banner and offer a substantial challenge to the incumbent brands.