Independent Journalists & Creators - Bridge-Building Journalism

Independent journalism is a roller coaster, and it is becoming harder to sustain. To be genuinely independent, you cannot belong to a political tribe. You must be willing to criticise or praise Reform, Labour, the Conservatives, or anyone else, according to the facts of the story, rather than your own politics or an audience’s expectations. That inevitably means upsetting people on every side because journalism that never challenges anyone’s preferred narrative risks becoming public relations. Over the past year, I have produced stories that became some of the most-read articles on some of the world’s biggest media brands. Getting paid for that work is another matter entirely. Building an audience presents the same problem. Out of roughly 1,000 followers on X, I lost around 200 after posting a critical story about Donald Trump—and close to another 200 after posting a positive one. Left-leaning and right-leaning followers appeared to disappear in almost equal measure. The obvious solution would be to pick a side, but that is activism, not journalism, and I refuse to do it. Journalism means challenging the biggest bullies in the playground. It is not about causing offence for its own sake, but neither is it about remaining safely inside an ideological camp. In September 2023, I wrote about my experience of being accused of running a global fake-news factory, and the process through which that accusation took shape. I call it news osmosis: a mechanism through which only material supporting the accepted narrative is allowed in, while anything else stays on the other side. People caught in that mechanism will find nobody willing to defend them. They become voiceless, which is ironic, because giving a voice to those who would otherwise have none is precisely what independent journalism is supposed to do. My experience is only a snapshot of a much larger problem and understanding what is broken may also point towards how it can be fixed. Wars, political division and increasing authoritarianism become possible when people stop seeing those on the other side, and when journalists trying to build bridges are swept aside by the mentality that says: if you are not for us, you are against us. This may lend some support to the argument explored in Neil Howe’s The Fourth Turning Is Here: that, at a certain stage of crisis, defeating the other side can matter more than the damage caused in doing so. I am now going back to basics: one journalist working with two publishers that want independent reporting. But I want that model to grow with people who also refuse to be pigeonholed—journalists and content creators who want to build bridges rather than tear them down. If that sounds like you, drop me a line and tell me your story. Perhaps the Fourth Turning is inevitable. The real question is how much damage it causes, and what remains when the rebuilding begins. The King of Bullsh*t News? https://a.co/d/0csALgwO Is It True, Grok? https://a.co/d/060FWfk3