3 Reading Recommendations: Mehdi Hasan, Matt Pearce, and Brian Merchant
3 newsletters and 1 book recommendation
Hello, readers. Parker here.
Today’s newsletter is just a quick list of reading recommendations.
Here’s the part of the newsletter where I ask you to consider signing up for the free version if you’re new here and ask existing free subscribers to consider upgrading to the paid version. Get 25% off subscriptions by clicking this link:
Mehdi Hasan has a new media company.
As you may know, I’m a big fan of
and his work. I appeared on his MSNBC show in January of last year (we discussed Fox News having a meltdown about comic books), and I’ve written about his work in glowing terms for years. He’s one of my favorite journalists, and I was heartbroken to hear that he was leaving MSNBC.Well, he’s back. Earlier this week, he announced the creation of
, a brand new news organization hosted on Substack. You can watch his intro video here:And, of course, you should sign up for it here:
Matt Pearce leaves the L.A. Times and pens a powerful manifesto for journalism’s future.
In other journalists-starting-their-own-thing news, Media Guild of the West president and former Los Angeles Times reporter
just launched a newsletter of his own:Based on his first post, “Meditations in a Journalistic Emergency,” you’ll want to sign up for it.
Pearce's farewell to the Los Angeles Times and his call to action for journalists is a deeply resonant piece about the industry's urgent challenges. Pearce's writing is a testament to his commitment to the craft, his understanding of the intricate dynamics within the media landscape, and his unwavering dedication to advocating for journalists' rights and working conditions. It’s a manifesto for the future of journalism, and it’s worth reading.
From the piece:
What journalists can fight for
In lieu of a powerfully funded public media in the United States — which would be amazing, but it won’t happen anytime soon — we should do the next best thing, which is to build up countervailing powers:
Journalists should continue unionizing media companies to counteract the consolidation that has taken place, and we should continue to be fearless about going on strike to hold publishers accountable.
Regulators should help publishers gain more bargaining power with Big Tech, but in exchange, they have to agree to payroll spending requirements that link these recouped revenues to the continued employment of journalists.
Future platform-publisher bills must take their cues from the proposed California Journalism Preservation Act and Canada’s C-18 settlement, which tie disbursements to newsroom employment.
Publishers don’t create journalism; journalists do. Nobody wants public policy to support more ChatGPT mills polluting the internet. The public doesn’t benefit if publishers confront AI developers to strike more favorable licensing deals only to turn around and deploy generative AI to replace their own journalists.
We must make it easier to roll over for-profit news companies into nonprofits, making newsrooms more attractive destinations for philanthrophy and other community support that’s built on an ethic of solidarity rather than zero-sum competition.
We should pursue more broad-based tax policies that make it easier to hire and retain journalists while minimizing the risks of political favoritism that come with more targeted government interventions.
There’s so much more that’s possible, and journalist organizations are capable of accomplishing a lot when motivated by solidarity. We just need the willpower.
Brian Merchant’s Blood in the Machine is a worthwhile read.
Last year, Brian Merchant released Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. I finally got around to reading it this week, and I strongly recommend it.
From his
newsletter:Chances are, you’ve got the Luddites all wrong.
The book traces the rise of the Luddites, who, contrary to common belief, were not anti-technology morons, but skilled cloth workers, artisans, and technologists. When entrepreneurs and bosses began using machinery to erode wages and working conditions, and moved to shift work from the home and into the factory, the Luddites organized a fierce, sprawling, and popular resistance. They hunted down and smashed the machinery used to exploit them with a hammer.
Today, as the tech columnist for the LA Times, I cover so many stories that seem to be echoes — or even reenactments — of the same phenomenon. Uber using its algorithms to take market share from taxis and slash its own drivers’ wages, until drivers are forced to revolt. Executives who justify firing droves of human staffers with a new investment in generative AI. Startups promising that software automation will let businesses replace their workforces, on the cheap.
This has all happened before, beat by beat by beat.
In the book, I tell the story of the Luddites as a narrative — we follow the early Industrial Revolution-era workers and organizers as they struggle, protest, contemplate alternatives, get beaten back, and take up arms against the machinery of industrial capitalism. I won’t spoil the ending, but suffice to say, I hope things turn out better today.
Buy Blood in the Machine here.
Anyway, that’s it for me today. As always, thank you for reading!
Parker
I'm a historian of technology, and the popular misconception of the Luddites truly grinds my gears. So I'm always thrilled to see people drawing attention to the reality that they were skilled, intelligent people who objected, not to technology, but to being screwed. To borrow a phrase from David Noble, no one opposes technology in the abstract; opposition to technology is always about the particulars.
Thanks for recommending Mehdi's new platform! I signed up, looking forward to seeing where my favorite fast-talkin' lefty goes with this.