Building a Thriving Media Business in the Digital Age

Today, I’m talking with Casey Newton, the founder and editor of the Platformer newsletter and co-host of the Hard Fork podcast. Casey is also a former editor here at The Verge and was my co-host at the Code Conference last year. Most importantly, Casey and I are also very close friends, so this episode is a little looser than usual. 

I wanted to talk to Casey for a few reasons. One, the media industry overall is falling apart, with huge layoffs at almost every media organization you can think of happening weekly, but small newsletters seem to be a bright spot. So I wanted to talk about how Platformer started, how Casey got it to where it is, and how much farther he thinks it can go. And then, I wanted to talk about Substack. It’s the newsletter platform Paltformer used to call its home, but content moderation problems — including its decision to allow Nazis to monetize on the platform — have pushed away a number of its customers, including Platformer. 

This episode goes deep, but it’s fun — Casey is just one of my favorite people, and he is not shy about saying what he thinks.

Links: 

• Can Substack CEO Chris Best build a new model for journalism? — The Verge
• Substack launches its Twitter-like Notes — The Verge
• Substack Has a Nazi Problem — The Atlantic
• Substack says it will remove Nazi publications from the platform --- Platformer
• Substack keeps the Nazis, loses Platformer — The Verge 
• Why Platformer is leaving Substack — Platformer
• The Messenger to close after less than a year — The New York Times
• Do countries with better-funded public media also have healthier democracies? — Nieman Lab
• AI is killing the old web, and the new web struggles to be born — The Verge
• The Biden deepfake robocall Is only the beginning — WIRED

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23823565

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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