Hello to all my wonderful World Outside Our Window Subscribers.
A lot of people don’t know this, but despite my wily charm and cool demeanor, I am actually quite insecure about my writing. As you surely noticed, I took a week off from posting, feeling lost and uninspired by the state of the world. I know that as a Thought Leader I have a certain responsibility to the public, and I do hope that everyone was able to survive okay without any musing or guidance from yours truly.
While on my much-needed sabbatical, I came to the unfortunate realization that my commitment to the written word may be my downfall. Fielding advice from my council of trusted advisors on how to grow my blog, I was told that I just have to be on TikTok, I need an Instagram presence, and I should probably start a podcast or two. But, despite my past as a Minecraft Youtuber, and a brief stint hosting a podcast about pickles, I really have no desire to enter the “content creation factory.” For one thing, I think there is value in quiet boredom. The constant stream of mindless entertainment we all subject ourselves to is somewhat silly, and I’d hate to add to it. Why would I devote time and energy towards something that will almost certainly be half-watched in the bathroom. After all, that is what newspapers are for!
Some may argue that as a keen observer of the human condition, it behooves me to be on the platforms where the masses gather, spreading my gospel. To that I say: look at TikTok, which until recently was going to be banned in America. The rise of Short Form Video is not because anyone thinks that 10-20 second long clips are the best way to deliver information, but because they are simply the easiest way to get ads in front of eyeballs. There is no guarantee that anything will have staying power right now, and chasing trends is a surefire way to burn yourself out, so why should I bother?
With that in mind, I do wonder: why are companies like The New York Times so eager to establish a presence in the “Short Form Video Space”? This week, users of the NYT app (boomers, resist libs, and me) found themselves greeted by a new video tab when they opened up its digital platform. My experience with it was quite unpleasant, demonstrating a complete lack of curation: I was first shown a harrowing video of mass deaths in Gaza1, which immediately cut to predictions for a catastrophic hurricane, followed by a video of Trump, and finally, an interview with Anthony Hopkins. I like Hopkins just as much as the next guy, but isn’t it odd to present a light-hearted talk with him in this way? Does the NYT report news or do they make content? Right now, it seems like they are more focused on content, and the line between news and entertainment is blurring.
Recently, Zohran Mamdani, the favorite in NYC’s mayoral race, hosted a press conference exclusively for digital content creators. I was shocked to not be included on the invite list, considering I’m being called a “tastemaker” by many insiders. Invite notwithstanding, I was still impressed by his campaign’s effort to include those not normally in the political process. However, I am deeply concerned about New Media being a replacement - rather than an addition - to traditional, fact-based journalism. It is good that there are cooking TikTokers who now get five minutes with the future mayor and can encourage their followers to vote. It would be bad if cooking TikTokers suddenly became responsible for informing their followers about the New York State budget. An optimist would say the NYT pivoting to video, and Mamdani elevating creators, may stem the tide of slop-content as the industry adapts to the new normal. Shockingly, I am not an optimist.
What about my own work? I think that the credibility of this blog is fairly obvious to readers; I write in a sarcastic tone about my personal opinion on current events, film, and my own life, desperate to make sense out of a confusing world. But I am not a reporter by any stretch of the word. I am a new, ineffable figment of the internet, who is somehow tricking people into thinking my opinions have value. As I continue to rise on the Substack leaderboard, it is very possible that I will soon be trusted to deliver news.
As an example, fellow blogger Bari Weiss was recently hired to be editor-in-chief of CBS News, after Paramount bought her Substack for 150 million dollars. Her blog, The Free Press, managed to carve out a modest following of heterodox moderates who badly want to just be Trump supporters, but don’t want the social consequences that come with that. They think the Democrats are worse than Trump, and the average liberal in America is a Hamas-loving Commie. While I find many of their pieces insulting to the idea of the Fourth Estate and writing in general, for the longest time one could simply ignore it. Now, however, as someone who is friendly to the Trump administration, Weiss and her ilk will run CBS, one of the nation’s three main sources for broadcast news. Not good.
What makes her unqualified, you may ask? For one thing, she is not an actual reporter. She is a commentator, who cut her teeth writing purposely divisive op-eds for the NYT, before resigning and founding The Free Press, a publication that prioritizes commentary over traditional reporting. Despite this, people have begun to hold it up as an unbiased source of news. The Free Press frequently publishes pieces that don’t satisfy basic journalistic standards. Look no further than a recent piece with the headline “NYPD Cops: ‘I Will Quit If Zohran Is Elected.’” The article, written by Olivia Reingold—who has complained on social media that her supposedly brave reporting has cost her friendships—relies on four unnamed NYPD officers, none of whom definitively say they’re quitting. One explicitly says he’s staying.
Now, as Editor-In-Chief of CBS, Weiss is trying to bring in Fox’s Bret Baier to host the main primetime newscast, booked her sister as one of the first guests in her tenure, and claimed to be focused on “winning,” something which is contrary to doing the news well.2 Despite her lack of experience in TV, and clear ideological commitments, Weiss is considered a good pick because her blog got big. It also pays to be a friend of Trump, of course.
This is a terrible standard to set. If, in the next four years, this blog somehow earns as many followers as The Free Press, will I be qualified to run a news agency? Maybe, in a few years, Disney will feel the need to pay me 200 million dollars for my blog in order to appear politically neutral. Perhaps, if all goes well, under a future AOC Presidential Regime, she would force Bob Iger to hire me as Editor in Chief of ABC News, a position I would of course gladly accept. I’d be a good Editor in Chief. My only change: no more reporting the news on Sundays. It’s the lord’s day, after all.
This, I think, is sure to bring more viewers than anything Weiss can cook up.
Signing off,
Max Bolen
Totally relevant.
Which the NYT has spent years denying, by the way.
Why is it always the good writers that are the most insecure? 🙄