I joined CURRENTLY, the slick video interview series from the creative agency [Electric Kite], hosted by principal Kevin Renton, to talk about local journalism, entrepreneurship and how we build healthier information ecosystems. (I wrote more about it on Technical.ly here)
Themes we hit: why geography still matters online; why “friction” is a feature of community; how luck shapes entrepreneurial outcomes; and why journalism is a strategy you attach to sustainable business models.
Below the full video, and a few points I want to stand out.
Points I’m glad I made:
- “Journalism is a strategy that uses storytelling and fact-finding to help a community reach a closer approximation to its truth.”
- “The internet doesn’t like local—it removes friction. But life is friction. Place adds the right kind.”
- “Give successful entrepreneurs less credit and failed entrepreneurs less blame. There’s more luck in the system than we admit.”
- “Media’s Day One is easy. Year One is hard. Sustaining audience is the work.”
- “We didn’t remove gatekeepers; we replaced them with algorithms. That’s still gatekeeping.”
- “Anyone who cares about independent information should love email—the only truly distributed, portable platform.”
Thanks to Kevin and the Electric Kite team for a thoughtful conversation.
It was fun!
