Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack and former journalist, discusses the platform's revolutionary role in transforming public discourse. He shares insights on how Substack prioritizes free speech amidst polarization and contrasts its user-controlled content model with traditional social media. Their conversation touches on the challenges of fostering meaningful dialogue and the evolving landscape of digital subscriptions. McKenzie emphasizes the importance of a diverse range of voices and the impact of business models on user engagement.

Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack and an advocate for independent publishing, discusses the platform's unique role in the media landscape. He compares Substack to traditional media, emphasizing the importance of creator-audience relationships. The conversation dives into content moderation challenges, contrasting Substack's subscription model with ad-driven social platforms like TikTok. McKenzie also highlights future opportunities for independent voices in journalism, while examining unique Substack content that reflects diverse cultural insights.

Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie, co-founders of Substack, dive into the turmoil surrounding their platform amid Elon Musk's recent criticisms. They clarify the intentions behind Substack Notes, countering the notion it's a Twitter clone. Highlighting the challenges of newsletter monetization versus social media models, they reflect on the impact of their platform's approach to free expression. The duo discusses how current tensions shape the future of content creation, emphasizing Substack's growth and evolving dynamics in the industry.

A few weeks ago, with Matt Welch bleeding out of his ears and supposedly forbidden from flying, Kmele and Moynihan hopped a plane to a post-apocalyptic hellscape called “San Francisco” to kibizt with their new benevolent overlords at Substack. Unlike the boring prigs at Patreon (whose “Trust and Safety” commissars never even returned our calls), Substack rather generously hosted the Fifth crew for drinks, drinks, some more drinks, and a live show at company HQ. In Matt’s stead, the lads called up FOTF (Friend of the Fifth - ed.) Lara “Che” Bazelon, a local law professor and communist revolutionary, and Substack co-founder* Hamish McKenzie, a reactionary publisher of fake news. They discuss San Francisco, the state of the media, the future of free speech, and much, much more. Enjoy.*Note: We previously referred to Hamish as CEO of Substack. He is, we are reliably informed, the "chief writing officer," which sounds to us like a fake job. As such, we now have significant doubts he even works at Substack and suspect he's never even been to New Zealand (which he told us “is the country where Kyle Minogue and Yahoo Serious are from”). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wethefifth.com/subscribe

In this insightful conversation, Nayeema Raza, a former co-host and now an independent creator with her show "Smart Girl Dumb Questions," shares her experiences in the evolving media landscape. She highlights the challenges and benefits of independence in content creation. Joining her is Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack, who discusses the platform's journey, its appeal for progressive voices, and their decision to decline an acquisition by Elon Musk. Together, they dissect the balance between writing and video content in a competitive creator economy.