Media outlets are becoming propaganda hubs or self-censoring soft serves under pressure from the Trump administration, greatly endangering the exercise of the constitutional right to a free press. This stifling of the free and truthful flow information is especially perilous in a political environment that already features a cowed legislature beholden to a corrupt president and a judiciary that either fails to act as a check to the executive or stands at the sideline watching powerlessly as the administration ignores its rulings.
Enter independent reporters and commentators publishing on their own, establishing an online culture that is attempting to bring ethics and professionalism back to journalism; braving the perils of online mosh pit, and trying to rise above it.
Substack also allows writers to charge for their content. It provides the mechanism to solicit paid subscribers and manage the payment process. Noted writers like Robert Reich, a professor and former Secretary of Labor, unfamous individuals like me and collectives like the Bulwark that house a stable of writers charge anywhere from nothing (yours truly) to a few dollars a week, all the way up to hundreds of dollars per year. Most sites offer some content free as a tease to the extended prose offered to premium subscribers.
In a sense, this ability to charge for access to content is a great way to reestablish a connection to the fading world of ethical, fact-based news coverage formerly embodied by newspapers and a large segment of broadcast news outlets.
But it strikes me that many of the commentators with the most expertise don’t really need the money, and there are no production costs associated with using the Substack app. In these cases, the paywall becomes a self-defeating barrier between content creators and their audiences, or potential audiences.
Even without a paywall, much of this often high-quality content ends up a component in an echo chamber. Asking for money all but ensures that the best and most expansive, and maybe most persuasive, content will only serve to strengthen the confirmation biases of a nodding and sighing base.
This, at a time when winning new hearts and minds has to be top of mind for content creators passionately practicing their craft. It would great for casual, non-committed internet perusers to be able to read, watch or listen to the best content these creators have to offer. These consumers won’t pay. And the fact that it is so easy and inexpensive to use Substack means that these creators can afford to place civic enlightenment over making a little extra change.
The best example of the dynamic I envision is Pete Buttigieg’s appearance on Andrew Schultz’s Flagrant, where he spent three hours yucking it up and engaging the woke-skeptical crowd on a wide range of issues.
We need more of that and less paywall-insulated echo-chamber engagement.