I really appreciate these observations. I would add that you and many others in the new media build community directly by addressing readers and by bringing in people with whom you have relationships so you share and circulate those relationships with us. Thank. you.
I am grateful beyond words to have found The Ink. Anand, your insights open new avenues of thought every time I come here - thank you.
One more idea I would add to your list of observations is the "newsletter" network. Through the various interviews, podcasts, etc., there is a WONDERFUL cross-pollination occurring.
I hear your conversation with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, then I hear her conversation with Rory Truex, on The Civic Forum, and I read her Lucid posts (which is how I found the Ink!), each expanding my understandings.
Anat Shenker-Osorio, whom I have followed for years, also comes to the Ink - and pretty much everywhere else, again, the interactions each offer something new.
And soooo many more...
I feel like there is magic, as others have mentioned, in all of these circulating conversations - maybe percolating synergistically.
Great post! I really appreciate and agree with what you said. As it happens, today is the day my annual sub expires (budget tidying in the "We-Have-How-Many-Subscriptions?!" list), but I know I will return when other things rotate out as they expire because I so enjoy this newsletter! I believe in what you offer, Anand & I value it more than I can say. Even when I disagree, I think, I learn, I share with others. Many thanks. :)
"[You] read that and she reads the third thing, and we didn’t all watch Walter Cronkite last night, but it’s O.K., and now we meet in the public square, and we put together a story from fragments. In this new media landscape, maybe we are not all on the same page. Maybe we lose certain same-page advantages, but maybe we also lose the catastrophic social cost of Fox News breaking millions of brains?" With 2 degrees in Comms studies since the 80s the critical scholars of mass media have been saying this in academia for a long time. But there has been nowhere to go in an industry built into supply side economics and "free"
Markets ruled by greed and Reagonomics lo these 4.5 decades. My broadcasting and policy professors said policy will never keep up with technology. The technology drivers (let's start with vcr's in homes) capitalize on Nature's primal drives - sex/procreation being one of them. For fractal patterns of newsletters - let humans find their own truth through chaos and diversity - are a biologically natural part of life. Concentrating the message by the messengers agenda of consumption and extraction with no care or responsibility to the commons has invisibly mutated our species. I've called for media literacy for decades. See that mass media is purely a puppet of the corporate agenda. You @ink and so many others give me hope. Amy Goodman needs the company and the camaraderie.
Thank you for this post. I still consult major news outlets, but I rely on you and other substacks such as The Contrarian and Lucid for insights and analysis, as well as for excellent interviews.
I am so glad to have found you. The Ink has made a hugely positive difference in my life. And, the combination of you in the front of things and Michael stepping in when needed is wonderful. Both of you just have a way of making me feel better about the state of things. Thank you.
"a world of intellectual microclimates where you read this and I read that and she reads the third thing, and we didn’t all watch Walter Cronkite last night, but it’s O.K., and now we meet in the public square, and we put together a story from fragments."
Good analysis. And yes, fuzzy as to what this evolves into. All my Substacks ask me for $ daily (“please subscribe “) which is not practical for me personally . Esp. those that ask for $300. Walter Cronkite was free. As you said, important to recognize the incredible value of truly hardworking reporters out in the world gum-shoeing stories. They need our respect. All my Substacks also incessantly talk about the “community” Substack creates. I don’t quite agree with this. Virtual will never feel like community to me. What does create some abstract version of community is trusting the integrity of the person I am reading or watching as well as the substance of their content. There you shine, Anand.
I really appreciate these observations. I would add that you and many others in the new media build community directly by addressing readers and by bringing in people with whom you have relationships so you share and circulate those relationships with us. Thank. you.
I am grateful beyond words to have found The Ink. Anand, your insights open new avenues of thought every time I come here - thank you.
One more idea I would add to your list of observations is the "newsletter" network. Through the various interviews, podcasts, etc., there is a WONDERFUL cross-pollination occurring.
I hear your conversation with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, then I hear her conversation with Rory Truex, on The Civic Forum, and I read her Lucid posts (which is how I found the Ink!), each expanding my understandings.
Anat Shenker-Osorio, whom I have followed for years, also comes to the Ink - and pretty much everywhere else, again, the interactions each offer something new.
And soooo many more...
I feel like there is magic, as others have mentioned, in all of these circulating conversations - maybe percolating synergistically.
Anand’s “magic,” as you say, deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, at the least, a Pulitzer
Thank you for the integrity, humanism, and brilliance that you bring to this troubled world. As others have said, your work inspires hope.
Great post! I really appreciate and agree with what you said. As it happens, today is the day my annual sub expires (budget tidying in the "We-Have-How-Many-Subscriptions?!" list), but I know I will return when other things rotate out as they expire because I so enjoy this newsletter! I believe in what you offer, Anand & I value it more than I can say. Even when I disagree, I think, I learn, I share with others. Many thanks. :)
"[You] read that and she reads the third thing, and we didn’t all watch Walter Cronkite last night, but it’s O.K., and now we meet in the public square, and we put together a story from fragments. In this new media landscape, maybe we are not all on the same page. Maybe we lose certain same-page advantages, but maybe we also lose the catastrophic social cost of Fox News breaking millions of brains?" With 2 degrees in Comms studies since the 80s the critical scholars of mass media have been saying this in academia for a long time. But there has been nowhere to go in an industry built into supply side economics and "free"
Markets ruled by greed and Reagonomics lo these 4.5 decades. My broadcasting and policy professors said policy will never keep up with technology. The technology drivers (let's start with vcr's in homes) capitalize on Nature's primal drives - sex/procreation being one of them. For fractal patterns of newsletters - let humans find their own truth through chaos and diversity - are a biologically natural part of life. Concentrating the message by the messengers agenda of consumption and extraction with no care or responsibility to the commons has invisibly mutated our species. I've called for media literacy for decades. See that mass media is purely a puppet of the corporate agenda. You @ink and so many others give me hope. Amy Goodman needs the company and the camaraderie.
Well said Nadine, and now you have a new follower (me) through the serendipitous community that expands out if @ink. Yup, the medium is the message.
Excellent, thank you for this very insightful commentary. And love how you ended it with Amy Goodman!
This place is one of several read on a regular basis. I appreciate you and the work you are doing - really helpful
I don’t know if access to this newsletter already exists to library’s and accessible with one’s library card ?
If it isn’t , I think that would be useful , and I don’t know how complicated that is or could be
Keep writing , it’s valuable
I've been reading the New York Times since I was in seventh grade, more than 45 years. Through college and graduate school, from paper to electrons.
It was a ritual for my Dad and I to go buy the Sunday Times on Sunday morning and spend the day reading different sections.
I've seen sections come and go, beloved columnists too. The bias is there, I accept that, too.
The Gray Lady is just so confusing and seemingly irrelevant now. The editors seem to miss the pith of so many stories.
Thank you, however, for putting the NYT in perspective in the emerging news ecosystem.
We may not be on the same page, but we’re on your page, Anand. Yours is the smartest site on Substack.
dB
Thank you for this post. I still consult major news outlets, but I rely on you and other substacks such as The Contrarian and Lucid for insights and analysis, as well as for excellent interviews.
Your words today gave me hope. Thank you for what you do. 🙏
I am so glad to have found you. The Ink has made a hugely positive difference in my life. And, the combination of you in the front of things and Michael stepping in when needed is wonderful. Both of you just have a way of making me feel better about the state of things. Thank you.
Thank you for your honesty. We turn to people like you to help interpret these times.
Thanks for this incisive, clear post—and for The Ink, which I’ve been recommending widely.
Beautifully written. Love you and love what you do!
A wonderful wonderful Substack thanks to Anand :
"a world of intellectual microclimates where you read this and I read that and she reads the third thing, and we didn’t all watch Walter Cronkite last night, but it’s O.K., and now we meet in the public square, and we put together a story from fragments."
Good analysis. And yes, fuzzy as to what this evolves into. All my Substacks ask me for $ daily (“please subscribe “) which is not practical for me personally . Esp. those that ask for $300. Walter Cronkite was free. As you said, important to recognize the incredible value of truly hardworking reporters out in the world gum-shoeing stories. They need our respect. All my Substacks also incessantly talk about the “community” Substack creates. I don’t quite agree with this. Virtual will never feel like community to me. What does create some abstract version of community is trusting the integrity of the person I am reading or watching as well as the substance of their content. There you shine, Anand.