Secret Services

The release of the DOJ affidavit came just in time to bump a faux billionairess grifter sharing a Mar-A-Lago photo-op off the front screen of the Friday cable news shows. Hoax vs. hoax, screamed the lower thirds. For those of us who have moved to the newsletter scene, no big deal. After all, newsletters are full of their own hoax, that what’s behind the paywall is worth paying for. I now spend a good third of my newsletter grazing examining for the telltale signs of hoaxable intentions. Luckily, there’s a more time efficient procedure.

That’s finding at least one publication worth paying for. For me, it’s Ben Thompson’s Stratechery, which establishes the rhythm and value metrics for not just him but everyone else. I enjoy not only what he writes most about, what he passes on. Yes to the intricacies of Apple’s nuclear strike on third party data and its takeout of cross-web tracking. No to the Usual Suspect scene — Musk/Twitter and its ilk. Even when he does surrender to that impulse, he usually bundles a wrap-up line that suggests maybe this won’t end up being what all the verbiage says it’s about. In the world of citizen media, saved paragraphs is worth a certain amount of real money.

Speaking of bundles, Ben’s linking and quoting strategies bear watching. He quotes liberally from paywalled pubs he pays for, providing a subtle bundle that continues to validate my unwillingness to pay Bloomberg for regular access to its clickbaity headlines. Same for newsletters that give you most of a post and then chop it off in midsentence. A quote from one of these guys would go a long way toward rethinking my patronage, but that doesn’t seem to happen so much. The graduated filter of these pass-alongs is very effective at establishing a value map I can live with for now. This is somewhat different from what people do with streamers to binge and then drop until the next season. I leave it up to the channels to provide some awareness of maintaining me as a relationship, particularly when the whole ecosystem falters in aggregate. Say what you will about Netflix, but so far their position as the last resort when every other vendor is broke is secure. It’s not that they’re so good, but that who is better?

As good is another story. There are people like Andrew Sullivan, who mix center-right screeds with super-hostile Trump bigfooting. I stay for the latter, but skip over the rest as a bridge too far. But he gets my vote as someone to delve into to see what the other guys think. Since most of my free subs are left-leaning, it gives me a chance to filter their myopathy too. Just because I don’t like somebody doesn’t mean they aren’t going to win. If I want unfair or unbalanced, back to cable. Or not, as YouTube TV gets closer and closer to grabbing enough of the streaming pie to make it count. The latest report is that the product will support 4 simultaneous channels, which will inevitably lead to an effective merger between CNN and MSNBC. The impact on the opinion meisters on both networks will be felt first in the data and then in the cascading triage of the roundtable talking head crowd.

Cable news is also a significant intersection between the worlds of business coverage and newsletters. Casey Newton and Eric Newcomer pop up frequently on CNBC. Kara Swisher seems headed away from big media (NY Times) and toward independent nodes (Substack or some hybrid on Vox.) Podcasting and live audio like Twitter Spaces seem to be merging, while Substack is adding embedded audio to carve up the exercise crowd. Much is made of the resurgence of podcasting, but corporate adoption of audio and video enhanced newsletters may have a broader impact in the near term. Substack has a Threads feature in pilot that sits across substacks to encourage cross-community groups. While it only supports text now, the iOS Reader app provides a notification experience that onboards mobile users who crave functionality over specific platforms. When GenWhatever reaches the job market, hi-test solutions will be waiting for them.

---