Expanding Worldviews
Aemula Writer Spotlight - 9.26.24
There are roughly 85,000 American journalists.
75% believe it is a major problem that readers cluster around publications with their same viewpoints.
67% believe that social media has a negative impact on journalism.
65% believe that they don’t have freedom in selecting the stories they write.
The faults of our current news distribution methods are well-known. Solving these issues is vital to restoring trust and stability to our complex social structures.
“We now have the most sophisticated information technology in history, and we are losing the ability to talk with each other. The democratic conversation is collapsing.” — Yuval Noah Harari
We believe the solution relies on empowering independent journalists to speak from their unique perspectives and expertise.
We believe the solution depends on readers being able to discover relevant information from diverse viewpoints, expanding their understanding of the world.
We have the technology to make this possible.
34% of American journalists are independent, but lack the support, stability, and tools offered by major media publications. It is incredibly difficult to compete.
We aim to help these journalists maintain their independence.
We aim to increase the percentage of journalists willing to write independently.
We aim to inspire more journalists to write.
Together, we can reverse the trend of media polarization.
As we work to make the Aemula platform a reality, we want to be a resource for you to discover excellent writers creating quality content — many of which operate outside of Substack. This week, we are spotlighting writers and publications who are running their own platforms.
Tangle
Led by Isaac Saul and produced by a five-person team, Tangle reports on news across the political spectrum and clearly labels what is opinion and what isn’t. They previously launched Tangle via a Substack (linked below for ease of embedding) before moving to their own website in 2021.
“I started Tangle because I recognized that the news industry was broken. My work was getting published in a lot of different places, and I realized people trusted it not based on what I was saying — but based on where I was saying it. Readers on the left would trust nothing I wrote if it showed up in a conservative-leaning news outlet, and vice versa. This is how I realized just how strong the information bubble was. So I had a concept I wanted to execute: A newsletter where no matter who you were you would encounter political opinions that you did not agree with. That seemed healthy to me”
Marginal Revolution
Written by Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrock, both professors of economics at George Mason University. Cowen is a best-selling author, and Tabarrock delivered a notable TED Talk on how ideas triumph in crises.
https://marginalrevolution.com
“In numerous reviews and ratings over the years Marginal Revolution has consistently been ranked as the best or one of the best economic blogs on the web, but it is more (and less) than that, also representing the quirks of its authors.”
Paragraph Picks
Written by Reid DeRamus to highlight notable posts on Paragraph, a Web3 platform for content monetization and distribution. It is a great introduction for those exploring the platform.
https://paragraph.xyz/@paragraph-picks
“a weekly roundup of hand-picked posts to help you discover great writing.”
Keep an eye out for the Aemula Paragraph publication coming soon!
If you want to support any of these writers, we highly encourage you to subscribe to their individual publications. If you want to support independent journalism more broadly, we offer both paid and free subscriptions for you to stay informed!
All subscription revenue is reinvested directly into the independent journalism community.
Follow us on X to stay up-to-speed on our progress towards launching the Aemula platform.
We would love to hear your thoughts on our mission in the comments!
What are your thoughts on the current state of our news media? Let us know in our new survey. It is 10 questions and should only take a minute!
Sources:
The 2022 American Journalist Study
