Matt Taibbi thrives on the absurd. He used to revel in journalism's culture: caustic, independent, collaborative, and adversarial to those in power. Now, the former Rolling Stone writer and author of Hate Inc. sees little to love in the toxic, "credentialist" media world. We discuss Matt's transition to Substack (the future!), the psychotic break Trump inspired in "mainstream" media, and the future of our broken industry.
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On the agenda:
-Journalism cultures, past and present* [3:38-20:22]
-Protest subscriptions, absurdism, and economic anxiety [20:33-37:14]
-Gerrymandering hate and victimhood [37:15-45:39]
-The pernicious chaos of totalitarianism [45:40-50:01]
-A Trump-induced psychotic break [50:02-1:01:54]
-Tech troubles [1:01:55-1:05:35]
-What's Next for Media? [1:05:36-1:09:05]
-The Blindspots Q [1:09:06-1:14:25]
For more media musings…
…check out our conversations with Batya Ungar-Sargon, Nancy Rommelmann, Matt Welch, and Katie Herzog.
Uncertain Things is hosted and produced by Adaam James Levin-Areddy and Vanessa M. Quirk. For more doomsday rumination, subscribe to: uncertain.substack.com.
The Media's Psychotic Break (w/ Matt Taibbi)