By June 8th, The clever and respected ABC News television journalist Terry Moran was neither home name nor political lightning. That changed abruptly when Moran Posted on X That Donald Trump’s deputy prime minister Stephen Miller was a “world -class hater”, followed by an addition that the president was also a hater. (The Post was later dropped.) While the statements were certainly defensible, they apparently violated ABC policy, and Moran was suspended, then dismissed. Moran, however, had one move to the left. On 11 June, he began writing on Substack.
Moran joined a movement based on a dream: journalists could start a minor newsletter and Garner -a bob fees that would match or exceed their previous wages. And they would be released! No editors to screw a copy, no censorship of bosses when advertisers complain, no corporate ruler to dismiss you when you say that the President of the United States is a hater. Substitum says that some people do live the dream. CEO Chris Best recently boasted In a speech that “more than 50” of its users raised a million dollars in revenue.
As more journalists get pushed From their work, feed with their bosses, or just want to breathe the cool air of freedom, they now have what seems to be a viable trigger. Lately, many of them have been using it. Jeff Bezos was well Start a publication called the opponentand censored publisher after cartoonist Ann Telnaes now publishes Upon underline as well. Former MSNBC host Mehdi Hassan started his own edition. Even Chuck Todd went indie.
You may be tempted to think that the underlying revolution shakes the foundations of journalism, agreeing with Substable Star Emily Sundberg That news leaders everywhere should prevent their doors to prevent further flaws. Well, not so fast. The inevitable model can work very well while some, but it is not so easy to walk and match pay. Readers have to pay a high price for a voice they have ever enjoyed in an edition they subscribe to. And writers must get used to the idea that the width of their wisdom is limited to a small percentage of patrons. Is underlining a sustainable for writers addressing a general public?
Just last week or more, a bunch of critics issued that the platform may be on chic land. It started when Eric Newcomer – emerging its own successful underscore – to celebrate the recent Bignon’s influx of celebrated uppsal and reported that the platform told investors that it was Earning $ 45 million per year in revenue. He claimed it is looking for a new investment round that will estimate the company at $ 700 million. (Substitum did not confirm those numbers.)
But then Puck’s Dylan Byers looked at those numbers And wondered if the bottom assessment was actually less than in the previous rounds. Byers, like other critics, accused that after you pass the few true large winners, the platform was full of low -flying mediums: “The truth is that the vast majority of the content on a substation is boring, amateur or beaten crazy,” he wrote. Its conclusion was that Substack was a media company trying to be rated as a Te Companynic company, which is a familiar failed point for similar companies. (Wired yourself once Failed at IPO For that.)
Ana Marie Cox, who once enjoyed blogging fame as Wonkette, is even thinnerWriting in her newsletter, which emphasizes “is as unstable as a launch of SpaceX.” She was not impressed by the more recent influx of name writers. “How many Terry Morans substack has a place?” She wrote. “Is there even a public appetite for a dozen Terry Morans, each independently Terry Moran-ing in his own newsletter?”
Cox refers to subscription fatigue, which is something I think every time a signature page appears when opening a new underscore. Typically, Substack Pros begs a monthly fee of $ 5-10 or an annual rate of $ 50-150. Usually there are free content, but journalists who hope to do at least part of their livelihood on a substation saves the good things for paid customers. Compared to subscription to packed publications, this is a terrible value proposal. Leaving the Atlantic, festive writer Derek Thompson Began substantial That cost $ 80 a year – that’s one penny more than a digital subscription to the magazine he just left! (The Atlantic will likely spend $ 300,000 Replace him with someone else worth reading.) There is no need for too many of these subscriptions to match the cost of the New York Times, which probably has 100 journalists as good as underlined writers, and you get Wordle to run.
