So far all the alleged “real news” providers have quickly converged to Deepstate. Most showed their true colors almost immediately.
I’ll give Tucker Carlson a chance. He’s starting with the correct business model, purely subscription, no advertising.
Ad-based media has NEVER been conducive to real news. Ad-based newspapers were always one-sided. When commercial radio started up, it quickly turned to ads and then abandoned news entirely (a rational and honest decision) until the Fairness Doctrine FORCED radio to cover news objectively. The news broadcasts were rarely sponsored because no company wanted to associate itself with wars and crimes. Also rational and honest. Still true, though the definition of wars and crimes is now purely partisan because all corporations are purely Democrat.
Come to think of it, this also repeats the old newspaper pattern. Newspapers were always one-sided, serving the tastes of their advertisers. When radio was forced to be objective, corporations couldn’t control the news so they refused to sponsor it.
Subscriptions were physically impossible in the era of broadcasting; the only feasible choices were advertising or patronage by private wealth or government. The web has always made subscriptions physically possible, but the business model didn’t take off until Substack showed it could be profitable. Seems odd that an old and well-established form laid fallow for 30 years.
Carlson’s website is unsatisfying from my fussy elderly viewpoint. It’s all video, not much text, and the videos are HUGE and not downloadable. I prefer to download videos so I can run them in a playlist for background noise.
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After listening to a random selection, I’m starting to get the old uneasy Cult Leader feeling, something like Jordan Peterson. Not certain yet.
Pinning it down more… If I’m going to pay for a product called “news”, I want the same mix of ingredients found in an old newspaper. It doesn’t have to contain everything, but it must include some nourishing information. It must tell me something I don’t know already. A nervous system feeds on deltas, not repeats. ZERO_TAX ZERO_TAX ZERO_TAX is not news. JANUARY_6 JANUARY_6 JANUARY_6 is not news.
To make a payable product, the nutrients should be varied in color, and should be immersed in a flavorful sauce or stock with a recognizable spice. Ideally the ingredients should be labeled. Campbell’s minestrone is news. Or try a Big Mac. The ingredients are in the slogan, not just the label. Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. You know what to expect, and you get what you expect. If you want something that isn’t in the slogan, buy something else.
So far I haven’t heard any nutritious deltas in Carlson’s material. I’m hearing lots of personality and flavor, which reminds me a bit too much of male cult leaders from Rush to Tate to Peterson.
Polistra's Mill 