Title TK is now Media Happy Hour
New name, same lack of commitment to posting on time.
Hello long-neglected subscribers. What can I say, I launched this newsletter in the dark days of 2020, mostly for my own amusement. You kindly subscribed, and then I bailed on you. But lately I’ve been feeling the urge to write again. Perhaps it’s the agonizing death of Twitter, or the slow decline (excuse me, “transformation”) of the media industry itself, but lately I’ve been wanting a space to talk about this business that I still perversely love, and to connect with the people that make it so great.
Last time around, I planned to focus on the changes the industry was undergoing, both technologically and economically. That’s not changing. I have a lot of thoughts on where media is headed and you’re just going to have to read them. However, this time I’d like to spend some time on the human factor that makes media so fun, namely the clever people that populate this business, and the cool things they create. (Hence the name change, I think we all miss the happy hours, parties, and gossipy drinks meetings that seem a little too infrequent these days)
So going forward, look for a mix of commentary and analysis, along with conversations with people from across the media industry, as well as links to the things I’ve been reading and want to talk more about (I might throw in a few good tweets as well, for as long as those exist)
You can expect something more substantive next week, but before that, a few small requests.
If you know someone doing something exciting in media, be it making something new, surviving the shrinking world of legacy media, or even charting a path out of the industry, send them my way. These stories are interesting and I think people want to read them.
Send me gossip. I really enjoy gossip. I don’t even have to publish it, I’m just really nosy.
Ugh, my 2010s audience-at-all-costs brain demands that I ask you to share this with anyone who might be interested. Send it to your friends, send it to my haters, all are welcome.
Some good links:
Charlotte Klein,in New York Magazine on the troubles that the Washington Post, recently exacerbated by my favorite billionaire Jeff Bezos.
Ben Mullin, in the NY Times taking a serious look at The Onion’s (apparently) very serious big to acquire InfoWars.
This profile of Feed Me’s Emily Sundberg, apparently everyone alive is reading her newsletter but I had no idea until she clipped one of my tweets at 800 people DM’d me about it.
Finally, a request.
Do you remember Media Steph? (Congratulations, you are old) I have made it a pet project to find out who was behind this nearly decade old parody account. I know one of you knows…
