The Culture Journalist

Hey pals. A little housekeeping: We keep full-length episodes like this one free, because we want as many people as possible to be able to hear them. But every episode we put out takes at least 20 hours to produce, from researching and booking to script writing, recording, editing, and marketing — and if you love this pod, we could use your help in keeping this project economically sustainable so we can keep churning out episodes like this one for years and years to come.If a paid subscription ($5/month!) isn’t on the table for you right now, we’ve introduced a new tipping feature where you can throw us a couple bucks to let us know that you’re enjoying what we make. You can think of it as tipping a barista for your morning cup of coffee — only instead of a cup of coffee, you’re tipping us for an hour or more of stuff that you download into your brain. It’s been a rough couple of weeks for freedom of speech in America, from from Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and reinstatement at ABC, to Trump’s executive order labeling Antifa a domestic terror group, to right-wing doxing databases targeting private citizens for Charlie Kirk wrongspeak. Here to help us make sense of the larger political and economic currents that have led us to this moment is Chicago-based journalist Adam Johnson, co-host of the long-running media criticism podcast Citations Needed, creator of The Column on Substack, and author of a piece for In These Times titled “The Trump admin is brazenly exploiting Charlie Kirk’s killing to silence dissent. Will Democrats take notice?”We break down the Kimmel saga — which coincided with a deportation order against Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil — and how the Trump administration is using Kirk’s assassination to push a broader agenda to erode liberal institutions, silence political opposition, and get corporations to fall in line. We also dig into the right’s overt embrace of so-called “cancel culture” tactics, backed by the full weight of the state — and how Democrats helped set the stage for this moment failing to defend the speech rights of their left flank. Finally, we examine how the media industry appears to be on the verge of a conservative “vibe shift,” from Bari Weiss’ rumored rise at CBS to the Ellison family’s powergrab over Paramount-Skydance and TikTok — and what standing up for free speech, and even doing one’s job as a journalist, could look like in the years to come.For access to our monthly cultural weather report, our CUJOPLEX Discord, and other bonus perks, become a paid subscriber.Read Adam’s piece “The Trump Admin Is Brazenly Exploiting Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Silence Dissent. Will Democrats Take Notice?” at In These Times.Subscribe to The Column and listen to Citations Needed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

Joining the conversation are Annabel Brady-Brown, Senior Editor of The Metrograph magazine and co-founder of Australia's Fireflies Press, and Nick Pinkerton, Editor-at-large for the same magazine and film critic. They explore the resurgence of independent film culture in NYC and the impact of niche publications on modern criticism. The duo elaborates on the enduring appeal of print media versus digital content, while celebrating the communal experiences that theaters like Metrograph foster among cinephiles. Their insights reveal the rich tapestry of contemporary cinema thriving in the underground.

CUJO is a podcast about culture in the age of platforms. Episodes drop every other week, but if you want the full experience — including access to our CUJOPLEX Discord and our eternal parasocial friendship — we recommend signing up for a paid subscription.Paid subscribers also get access to The Weather Report, a new monthly episode series where we take stock of where the cultural winds are blowing and tell you what’s rained into our brains. In the first installment, we wax philosophical about Ari Aster’s Eddington, the future of search, and the alleged returned of Butt Rock. These days, it feels like the web is becoming… less of a web. Websites aren’t getting visitors anymore, employees are worried that they’re going to be replaced by AI agents, and the search tools we used to rely on to pull up the information we need are deliberately enshittifying themselves. It’s like the internet as we know it — fundamentally, a thing that connects people with other people — is being swallowed up by AI and smooshed down into the cramped, impersonal space of a chatbot interface, whether we like it or not.Or, as New York Magazine tech journalist John Herrman recently put it, “The World Wide Web … has been going through something akin to ecological collapse.” John has been keeping close tabs on these developments in his excellent column “Screen Time,” where he recently reported on the emerging field of generative-engine optimization, or GEO. Think: SEO, but for the AI-consolidated internet.We invited John on the show for a wide-ranging conversation about the strange new chapter of the internet that is materializing before our eyes—and what our experience of the web might look like a world where conversational AI becomes our main portal to the digital realm. We discuss the shift from SEO to GEO, why we’re all reading Reddit a lot more now, and what we stand to lose (and, in some cases, gain) in a world where we summon our information from chatbots.Finally, we get into what New York Times writer Mike Isaac is calling the dawn of Silicon Valley’s “Hard Tech” era: a vibe shift away from the consumer-focused, employee-friendly, optimistic culture of the 2010s to the more cutthroat, bossist, AI and data center-obsessed tech culture of the present.Follow John on BlueskyRead “Screen Time” at New York Magazine’s Intelligencer More by John: “What’s the deal with GPT-5?”“SEO is dead. Say hello to GEO.”“The AI boom is expanding Google’s dominance” “Why you are reading Reddit a lot more these days”“At work, in school, and online, it’s now AI versus AI” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

Clive Martin, a London-based writer and cultural observer, explores the rise of a new foodie subculture he dubs 'The Normans.' He dissects how this group, characterized by an obsession with Instagrammable, oversized sandwiches, reflects cultural shifts amidst gentrification. Clive reveals how food has supplanted art and music, becoming a status symbol and a means of identity for urban youth. He also delves into the intertwining of masculinity and culinary trends, revealing the emergence of tattooed chefs as a new archetype in today's food landscape.

Join us in Philly on Tuesday, 29 for a special book talk with this week’s guest, Jeff Weiss, co-presented by CUJO and Lot 49 Books. The event kicks off at 7 pm, at Fishtown’s Neon Clown Dream Lounge — and will feature Jeff in conversation with Emilie, Drew Millard, and Sadie Dupuis, followed by a book signing, a Britney-themed DJ set by Domino Dancing, and, rumor has it, Britney-themed drinks. Admission is free, but you can pre-order Jeff’s book here to support him and one of the city’s best independent bookstores.As a younger generation obsesses over Canon PowerShots, low-rise jeans, flip phones, Von Dutch, and other relics of the Y2K era, it’s easy to forget that the 00s were actually a pretty terrible era for pop culture. And while some of that has to do with aesthetics (looking at you, Boho Amnesia Belt), it was especially true when it comes to media. Think: award-winning news anchors contemplating pop stars’ virginities and making them cry on primetime TV; reality shows about celebrities in rehab funded by commercials for dubious diet pills; supermarket check-out aisles lined with magazines asking whether your favorite actor was “hot” or “not.”Few people got to know that world quite like music writer, friend-of-the-pod, and Passion of the Weiss founder Jeff Weiss, and he just published a book about it. It’s called Waiting For Britney Spears: A True Story, Allegedly, and it’s a semi-fictional account of Jeff’s years working as a young tabloid reporter in the early 2000s, roving the streets of LA with a paparazzi buddy in pursuit of the rich and famous — and the concurrent arc that saw Britney Spears go from America’s Sweetheart to Vegas party girl to conservatee.You could call it a work of fiction, written as a memoir; a work of non-fiction in the spirit of Joseph Mitchell and the Beat poets; or, as Jeff has described it, “a one-person referendum on the impossibility of knowing the exact truth about anything — especially anything refracted and distorted through the lens of electronic media.” Either way, it’s as much about Britney as it is about the glossy, Ed Hardy-adorned last days of pre-internet media and pop culture at the turn of the millennium — and how that time set the stage for the ruthless, gossip-obsessed cultural climate of the present. Jeff joins us to talk about his days as a gossip reporter, and why he chose this experimental format rather than a straightforward biography. We also get into how these experiences informed his understanding of the morality (and amorality) of journalism, how the tabloid era paved the way for our current moment in political media, and why a new generation of young people seems so nostalgic for the fashion and music of the early 2000s.CUJO is a podcast about culture in the age of platforms. For access to paywalled episodes and an invite to our Discord, become a paid subscriber.Buy Waiting for Britney Spears, and follow the book’s Instagram account. There’s also an official playlist. Follow Jeff on X and check out his new podcast, The Truth Hurts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe

Nicholas Russell, a Las Vegas-based writer and critic, discusses the evolution of A24 from an indie film distributor to a powerful lifestyle brand. He dives into how A24 commodified cinephilia and transformed indie cinema's identity. The conversation explores the tension between A24's artistic roots and its mainstream aspirations due to private equity. They also analyze A24's unique marketing strategies and its cultural impact, questioning the authenticity of its brand in an ever-evolving cinematic landscape.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit theculturejournalist.substack.comThis is a free preview of a subscriber-only episode. If you sign up for a paid subscription between now and July 4, we’ll give you 50% off.For as long as any of us can remember, the NBA has been the cultural North Star of the United States. But according to Ock Sportello, author of a viral Substack article called “Toward a Unified Theory of Uncool,” the league has become a microcosm of the ways that economic risk aversion and image production in the age of social media are rendering the culture at large… increasingly swagless. To celebrate the final weekend of the NBA season, Emilie and boyfriend-of-the-pod/co-host of the excellent new show Macho Pod Drew Millard brought on Ock to discuss how “aura” replaced “coolness,” the erasure of regional identity in the age of globalization, and what the basketball superstars of 2025 have in common with the West Village Girls.

Jaime Brooks, a critic and musician known for her projects Elite Gymnastics and Default Genders, digs into the intersection of geopolitics and pop culture. She explores how U.S. protectionist policies influence musical expressions, using Kendrick Lamar and Drake as prime examples. Jaime reflects on her Canadian upbringing and the historical impact of UK and US radio on Western pop music. She critiques the material realities of the music industry, examines the fallout from declining U.S. cultural funding, and emphasizes the importance of community radio in today's media landscape.

Malcolm Harris, a writer and progressive thinker known for his book 'What's Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis', dives into urgent strategies to tackle the climate crisis. He outlines three leftist approaches: marketcraft, public power, and communism, advocating for their simultaneous use. Harris critiques mainstream ideas like 'Abundance' for neglecting class politics, and questions the future of political opposition amid escalating environmental challenges. The conversation emphasizes unity within diverse movements for effective action.

During the pandemic, it seemed like the internet, and specifically TikTok, was coughing up one fringe aesthetic after the next: Cottagecore! Trad Cath Coquette! Old Money! Coastal Grandmother! And of course, our personal fave, Dark Academia. We even did a whole episode on it, as part of a larger examinatin of post-pandemic aesthetics. Fast forward to today, and the churn of social media-born aesthetics seems to have slowed somewhat, leaving behind a landscape that feels more fragmented and difficult to parse. So we’ve brought back our guest for that episode — style writer, trend forecaster, and bonafide Cool Girl Biz Sherbert — to give us a lay of the sartorial land. Along with continuing to co-host the influential fashion and culture podcast Nymphet Alumni, and writing for places like The Face and AnOther Magazine, Biz recently launched a new publication called American Style on Substack (subscribe!), which she says is about “what people are really wearing and why.”If you’re a CUJO subscriber, you already got a little taste via our Coachella collab with American Style a couple weeks ago. Either way, you’re in for a treat: Biz joins us to talk about American Style’s origin story and what’s she’s learned from documenting what young people are wearing out in the real world, at places ranging from a Deftones concert in Atlanta, to Disney World in Orlando, to a rave in North London. We also get into the state of countercultural and subcultural fashion in 2025; why men and boys seem, for the first time in a long time, to be leading the style conversation; the role that festivals like Coachella play in the wider image-making ecosystem; and the strange staying power of the festival cowgirl.Subscribe to American Style and follow Biz on Instagram (fka @marcfisherquotes). Listen to Nymphet Alumni on your pod platform of choice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe