The Network is the Media

The assassination attempt on Donald Trump was a stress test for the Information Space, and a reminder of just how much the media has changed. You had mainstream news outlets jockeying with individuals holding forth with a collection of expertise, conspiracies, jokes, memes and partisan potshots. Some of it was informative, some of it was hilarious, some of it was infuriating, and much of it was… entertaining? We unpack yet another crazy plot twist and look forward to what it means as the media business girds for what looks very likely to be a return to power of Donald Trump and an ascendent political movement that’s to a large degree successfully vanquished the packaged news media. Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on TwitterSkip to topic:00:00 Introduction02:50 Personal Media Consumption Experiences04:13 The Evolution of Media and Information08:08 Trump's Influence on Media and Politics15:13 The Future of Media in a Polarized World26:23 Trump's Media Mastery and Political Impact38:34 Tech's Political Landscape42:44 Big Tech vs. Small Tech44:26 The Role of Media in Politics49:55 The Rise of YouTube as a Podcast Platform53:58 The Evolution of Digital Advertising01:03:51 Good Product