This is an excerpt from the Aemula Update Letter dated 12.2.24
Since the election, the public’s distrust in media remains in the spotlight as readers search for alternatives to legacy publications. While distrust in media has become a talking point for all sides, it is clear that it is important to maintain healthy discourse among credible sources. In Pew Research published today, 75% of U.S. adults believe that media scrutiny helps to keep political leaders from doing things they shouldn’t, yet only 22% of U.S. adults believe news organizations deal fairly with all sides when presenting news on political issues — a disconnect indicative of the problem with today’s media.
The search for alternatives has led to the growing debate between the users of Bluesky and X, two social media platforms that originally branched from Twitter. However, the choice between Bluesky and X as your source for news is not true optionality. At their core, both are functionally the same short-form public messaging service as launched by Twitter back in 2006. Yet, they have become even more siloed and both fall victim to the self-selection and confirmation biases that have plagued social media — topics we outline further in our recent blog post, Silos.
Additionally, Elon’s commentary on X that “you are the media now” — a reference to how X is beginning to replace traditional publications as a source of news — led Jim VandeHei, Co-Founder and CEO of Axios, to launch into a rant on the importance of gatekeeping the independent press as he was accepting the Lifetime Achievement award at the National Press Club’s Fourth Estate Awards (you can watch full speech here, starting at 2:27:20).
What both Elon and VandeHei fail to recognize is that they are defending opposing sides of a false dichotomy. We no longer have to accept the tradeoff between independence and quality when it comes to journalism. There are tens of thousands of qualified journalists and experts that are more than capable of writing well-researched, in-depth, relevant articles. However, there is no path for these independent writers to access the necessary resources to publish their thoughts in legacy news outlets. Major media publications consolidate control and local newsrooms continue to downsize in a competitive environment.
By providing the tools to unlock the public’s access to independent information, Aemula can begin to reverse the trend of growing distrust in media. More critically, we can verifiably prove that there is no one controlling the narrative behind the scenes and there is no outside influence on the content you read. Through full-transparency and community governance, we can rebuild trust in the information we share.
This week, we highlight writers who are discussing the issues plaguing our current media systems and producing independent reporting from their own unique perspectives. We encourage you to read their work and consider subscribing them directly.
David Cycleback: Big Ideas
Written by David Cycleback, a cognitive scientist, philosopher, and artifacts historian who focuses on brain function and its connections to knowledge, beliefs, and behavior. He is the former (retired) Director of the Center for Artifact Studies, a member of the British Royal Institute of Philosophy and the American Philosophical Association, and the author of ten peer-reviewed university textbooks, including Nature and Limits of Human Knowledge, Cognitive Science of Religion and Belief Systems, and Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence.
“Economic pressures have reshaped the industry in profound ways. The collapse of print advertising and the rise of platforms like Google and Facebook have gutted traditional media business models. In response, many outlets were bought by conglomerates or hedge funds, more interested in cutting costs than preserving journalistic integrity. Local newspapers were hollowed out or shuttered entirely, leaving “news deserts” across rural and urban America. Between 2008 and 2020, newspaper employment in the U.S. fell from 71,000 to 31,000. Fewer reporters means thinner coverage, more errors, and less accountability—all of which haven’t gone unnoticed by readers.
Meanwhile, the rise of social media has upended the way news is discovered and consumed. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and X now function as primary news sources for millions. These platforms don’t prioritize accuracy; their algorithms reward engagement, which often means amplifying the provocative, the polarizing, and the misleading. Misinformation spreads faster than corrections ever could. The flood of online content, much of it user-generated, has made it harder than ever to distinguish credible journalism from rumor, propaganda, and parody. For many, Facebook memes and anonymous blog posts blur into the same information stream as a New York Times investigation.
The blurring of news and opinion has further eroded trust. As cable news channels and online outlets increasingly mix reporting with analysis and commentary, audiences often struggle to tell fact from spin. Opinion sections bleed into front-page coverage, and some media personalities act more like activists than reporters. While some journalists defend this shift as a necessary evolution in the face of rising threats to democracy or civil rights, many viewers see it as proof that the media is pushing an agenda. This perception is especially acute among conservatives, but is shared by independents and even some liberals who believe traditional standards of journalistic objectivity are fading.”
Sam Harris
A neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author whose work explores topics such as moral philosophy, religion, meditation, and human behavior. He holds a degree in philosophy from Stanford and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA, is the author of five New York Times best sellers including The End of Faith and Waking Up, and is the creator of the Waking Up app and host of the award-winning Making Sense podcast.
“Those of you who have followed me for several years know that I often explore controversial issues, without concern for political alliances or popular opinion. As a consequence, those first drawn to my work on one topic may be later startled—or worse—by my views on another. It is never my goal to be merely provocative, much less offensive, but the resulting whiplash has produced exactly the type of audience I want: One that is steadily purged of partisans and dogmatists.
I’ve built an audience that values how I arrive at conclusions, rather than the conclusions themselves. As a consequence, I’m free to say exactly what I think about politics, religion, science, philosophy, spirituality, violence, and any other topic that captures my attention.”
Letters from an American
Written by Heather Cox Richardson, a history professor interested in the contrast between image and reality in American politics, the author of seven books on history and politics, and the writer of Substack’s most popular newsletter by annual revenue.
“This is a chronicle of today’s political landscape, but because you can’t get a grip on today’s politics without an outline of America’s Constitution, and laws, and the economy, and social customs, this newsletter explores what it means, and what it has meant, to be an American.
These were the same questions a famous observer asked in a book of letters he published in 1782, the year before the Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War.
Hector St. John de Crevecoeur called his book “Letters from an American Farmer.”
Like I say, history doesn’t repeat itself, but it sure rhymes.”
Are you writing on Substack? You can easily set up automatic cross-posting with Aemula to:
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