Pivot to Truth
Do you ever wonder if you were drawn to a career in media and/or the arts because you secretly crave chaos? Do you wonder if your highly functional public persona is only a façade that masks a certain degree of dysfunction, and by working in a highly unstable field you’re able to live in a state of high-intensity drama under the guise of professionalism? Do you think you secretly crave failures and firings and rejections because it makes life more interesting, or because uncertainty and upheaval are your comfort zone?
Well, now that I’ve got that out of my system, let's recap the past week in the media.
Don Lemmon is out at CNN.
Fox has parted ways with Tucker Carson.
Last week, BuzzFeed shuttered the news arm of its business, which, at its height, captured the zeitgeist with articles that often went viral with the help of Facebook’s algorithm.
Elon Musk banished free blue check marks on Twitter. Users must pay $8 to get a verified account, which means celebrities, media personalities, and just regular journalists who formerly had checkmarks (I had one) to verify their identities must now pay for the privilege. (For the record, I never felt like my blue checkmark was free. I earned it).
In the fourth season of Succession, media tycoon Logan Roy’s estranged children (yes, Kendall is my favorite) decided to go for broke and purchase the legacy media company Pierce instead of launching a site described as “Substack meets Masterclass meets the Economist meets the New Yorker.” Old media > new media.
Love is Blind fans (disclaimer: I don’t watch the show, I just read about it on Twitter) were upset when a livestream of the show was delayed. People are really craving "appointment TV,” I heard on WYNC the next day.
The Writers Guild of America authorized a strike. Many TV writers aren’t getting paid their due, and it’s largely due to the ways streaming services and reality TV have upended the industry.
I invested $100 in Substack, where I write right now, because in theory writers should get a share of the platforms where they work. We’ll see how it goes.
Lastly, but perhaps most important: Evan Gershkovich, the Washington Post reporter detained in Russia on bogus espionage charges, was denied bail and still remains behind bars.
What does it all mean?
I wish I knew. Last week, another thing happened: an aspiring journalist reached out to me from my alma mater. I freeze up when I have to share my journey; it’s long and bumpy, but I realize that’s the point. When people ask for advice, I really think they’re asking for permission to do a hard thing. They’re looking for a reason to keep going, for evidence that it’s all worth it in the end.
Here’s what I said.
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