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the very tenants and roots of Journalism are about holding truth to power and having an informed and engaged electorate and populace and so right now there are great forces including one of
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our two political parties in America that want to undermine all of that and they frankly want people to be misinformed or not informed in order to advance their agenda that is not popular
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and so the problem though is that we have a me media that needs to survive based on clicks and controversy and serving the most engaged people so they both sides the issues right they they
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lift up facts and lies as equivalent in order to claim no bias but that in itself is a bias because it gives more oxygen to the lies and the disinformation that is really dangerous
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to our society and we are living through the impacts of those errors and that malpractice done by media in America and so we need to build different models and new precedents for what it means to be
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really transparent and pro-democracy and really focused on what the mission of Journalism and media has and should always be which is to inform the public with the facts so they can make educated
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informed decisions about who they vote for who they want to represent them um where they stand on issues that affect their lives and their communities and frankly what kind of government we want
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to have in this [Music] country hello and welcome to the politics girl podcast I'm your host Li mwan let's get into it the media lets us down every day from The NeverEnding
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horse race Biden Trump poll numbers to the constant talk of Taylor Swift to the previously trusted news sources like the New York Times and Washington Post posting deceptive clickbaits or giving op-eds to Liars because they know it'll
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sell something has gone really wrong we used to say that journalism was the fourth estate the final check holding the rich and Powerful accountable but that's all been Shattered by this profit-making entertainment Paradigm the
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influx of fake news and the consolidation of our media owners and we're all suffering because of it we need our media to keep us informed to help shape our opinions and to broaden our understanding of what is happening
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around us if they lie to us or they're simply there to turn a profit then where does that leave us what's our alternative to have this conversation today I'm joined by Tara mcgaan Tara is a former journalist and political
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strategist who is the founder and publisher of Courier one of the fastest growing local news networks in the country dedicated to spreading factual journalism while being unapologetically pro-democracy Courier has local networks
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in 11 different states and a full online presence dedicated to building a more informed engaged and representative democracy by reaching Americans where they are with factual values driven news it's an
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incredible company that's really filling the gaping hole in the market where real journalism used to be Tara herself has led some of the largest digital advertising and marketing programs in US politics including acronym priorities
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USA nextg climate and as digital strategist for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign so without further Ado please welcome my guest founder and publisher of Courier Tara m
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welcome Tara thank you for having me Le oh thank you for joining me I mean I'm sure as a former journalist and political strategist you've just had a front row seat watching America's sources of information just split
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further and further apart and I'm sure you have some opinions on how much that contributed to this division in our country that we're all sitting through now where what are your thoughts on that
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on media and where we are divisively how long do we have we have a little bit of time we I have so many um so we have an information chasm in America where
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because of the way that the internet and social media have changed um media consumption habits and and just people's behavior and where they go to for information and the the options they
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have in front of them um and the decline of uh of of traditional advertising models and media really going through this Reckoning of how do they stay in business right like this actually is a
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business problem um we don't have a really strong subsidized news media in America the way that some other countries and democracies do um it has always been a business and so when that
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business model started to fall apart uh through technological disruption and Innovation now media survives by finding the people who are willing to pay for news and content and there's been a lot
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of studies now that show that the people willing and actually paying pay walls to access local news where it exists or national news like the New York Times or to the Washington Post they are the most
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highly educated and highest income Americans and so everyone else um that you know never had to pay for news or information and now that they do they don't or they won't um they get their
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information for free P by passively scrolling their social media news feeds uh talking to their friends and neighbors going through their inboxes of their email and messaging apps and unfortunately most of the free
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information that flows is not great information it isn't uh fact checked it isn't um going by journalistic standards and so uh there are now very many different uh uh truths that exist for
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people and Echo chambers that people live in and I I will say one thing because it's always frustrated me there isn't a lot of attention paid to this wide ing information Chasm between the halves and the haves Nots because it would have to be paid by the media who
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is the culprit here and so we really do have um this problem that I I feel like I became much more in touch with because I was working in politics and you have to be really surgical um with your money
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your resources your time all of that is really limited to be able to reach voters um who need good information to make good informed decisions and to participate in elections in our democracy
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and and in doing that it was really clear that the folks that are the least politically engaged and informed but are also the folks who when they do show up decide the outcome of elections in America they were falling into this Gap
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they were falling into the chasm they were um the have knots of good information and there's a lot of Bad actors and a lot of just free information that is is weaponized in
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order to um really affect the weather for them really affect the story that they're being told about the country and the direction it's going in that isn't based in fact so that's the challenge before us um and and information really
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is weaponized in this new ecosystem yeah it really is it doesn't help that most of our media companies are owned by the same people you know that there's what six major companies that own 90% of our news sources at this
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point and they're all for profit models and like you said there's there's no subsidized version like a BBC or a CBC that you would have in like England or in Canada um which cuts down on what we
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would you were calling universal truth so we don't even really live in the same reality anymore we have networks out there who tell uh people that you know Democrats are evil that Liberals are evil that we're like killing babies
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after they're born uh you know this these aren't Universal these aren Universal truths I mean a third of Americans still believe that the 2020 election was stolen we have Tucker Carlson in Russia propagandizing Putin's
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War I mean what do we even do about that because it's no wonder we're so politically polarized we're informationally polarized that's exactly right it is the reason for the polarization and the division and that's really intentional um by The Bad actors
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right this is this is part of the fascist Playbook um forever and ever is is to undermine um sources of good factual information to to so mistrust and um of media and that's something you
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know we know Donald Trump and Maga uh you know evangelists have been doing for years is saying you know that is the fake media like don't believe them just believe me I'm the one telling you the truth and trusted Messengers matter more
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than ever before this is something that's really really important is that when you earn the trust whether it's through lies or through you know genuine um trust building and authenticity and and and truth it's very hard for people
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to no longer trust you right so when they do trust you you can pretty much tell tell them anything and so if you don't have really good intentions or you are just doing this to weaponize or manipulate people like Donald Trump and
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many Republicans are they have an enormous amount of power and control and then the side effects is that the people that maybe don't believe them they aren't kind of part of the cult of trump um they're still really wary and then
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they don't know who to trust and so we've seen that right there is unprecedented low levels of Trust in Media government and institutions among Americans today that is really scary that is those are the the symptoms that
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very much lead to authoritarian regimes and and leaders in other countries we know this to be true and so that's that's what keeps me up at night that's exactly why I dedicate my work to the to
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the work that I do which is building different models of media um you know what used to be kind of controversial to build um point of view media um recently controversial I would say still a little
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bit controversial is actually what media and the news media in America was founded on and the greatest kind of social movements in this country were spurred by Progressive media and yet up
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till a few years ago Progressive media in this country was also really kind of only serving the the halves the folks who were really educated and and really informed and really politically engaged and so you know one solution of which
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we're building a part of it career but I think is just something that needs to get more mainstream and have more folks engaged in is building media that is that is Unapologetic about being transparent about our values um about
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where we stand on on issues of great concern to Americans and being really what we call pro-democracy you know the very tenants and roots of Journalism um are about holding truth to power and
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having an informed and engaged electorate and populist and so right now there are great forces including one of our two political parties in America America that want to undermine all of
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that and they frankly want people to be misinformed or not informed in order to advance their agenda that is not popular and so the problem though is that we
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have a media that needs to survive based on clicks and controversy and serving the most engaged people so they both sides the issues right they they lift up facts and lies as equivalent in order to
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claim no bias but that in itself is a bias because it gives more oxygen to the lies and the disinformation that is really dangerous to our society and we are living through the impacts of those
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errors and that malpractice done by media in America and so we need to build different models and new precedents for what it means to be really transparent and pro-democracy and really focused on
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what the mission of Journalism and media has and should always be which is to inform the public with the facts so they can make educated informed decisions about who they vote
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for who they want to represent them um where they stand on issues that affect their lives and their communities and frankly what kind of government um we want to have in this country um because I don't believe that the majority of
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Americans don't want a democracy I don't think that they think that that is actually um truly at risk I think more think it is now than ever before but they need to know that it it very much
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is at risk it is very very very fragile right now and we can't forget what democracy is which is all of us participating and the majority of people making the decisions about the direction
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of this country and Republicans today and certainly Trump they want to dismantle de Democratic institutions and a democratic government so they make decisions not the people and we we need
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to just continue to break that down and reinforce that and the media needs to play a role in making that clear and not holding up his positions about destroying institutions or the government as just talking points or or
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ways to get clicks or likes or support because that is actually the plan that they have laid out yeah no it's actually the plan they have written down on paper you know I think the thing is is that the media is
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supposed to act as a check on power they're supposed to hold those in charge accountable they're supposed to break things down and and and hold our leaders like you said to their word um but the
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24-hour news cycle really threw a wrench in that entire agenda because they're filling all these hours of programming and you would think that that would make us more informed but if anything it makes us less informed and more biased
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like that old expression if it bleeds it leads meaning the most dramatic news story of the day is the one you lead with is every story now because they're all competing for profit clicks and and
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advertis iing and by constantly seeking to outdo each other to get those eyeballs on the screen they end up chasing drama and if they can't find any they make it themselves they're creating it themselves and then that makes us
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feel even more um uh divided um there's an old expression which I'm sure you know about journalism that says if someone says it's raining and another person says it's dry it's not a journalist job to quote them both it's
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their job to look outside and find which one is true there's a real need for a new type of media one that exists to explicitly give the facts but also to
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protect and strengthen our democracy so how's Courier going about accomplishing that task sure so Courier just for folks who haven't heard of it um Courier is going to turn five years old this year
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which is wild um but very exciting it is uh we are a pro democracy happy birthday thank you um uh we are a pro-democracy News Network um we started out as a
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local news network uh in seven Battleground States across the country we are now in 10 about to open our 11th Newsroom in an 11th State and now we also have uh National content streams
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podcasts substack newsletters and Tik Tok and YouTube series and um I started Courier because of this problem because of this information chasm in America and and also because the there are so many
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Americans today who share um the values that I know you and I share uh and the the positions on issues that are actually popular they're not Progressive um they are labeled as Progressive by both mainstream media and
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right-wing media to create wedges but actually the vast majority of Americans want access to abortion for all Americans without exception the vast majority of Americans want stricter gun control laws to make sure that their
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kids are safe and they feel okay sending their kids to school in America today because we have the most gun violence of any country in the world um most Americans want lgbtq plus and human
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rights um for all people like these are these are actually not uh left or liberal or Progressive positions these are popular positions that have been labeled this way and so at Courier we
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are absolutely transparent that those are the positions that we hold and so we want to make sure that if people don't agree with us we respect them they don't have to consume our content but also like we are not in-your-face partisan
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and we're not we're certainly not pro capital D Democrats we are about these positions and these values and wanting to make sure that people are informed about them and most especially the reason that I started this as a local
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news network was you know one there's the obvious thing I think everyone listening knows is that local news in America is dying because of all the reasons we talked about they they have not found a sustainable business model um the they're being bought up by hedge
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funds and broken apart for their pieces or or they're just shuttering their doors and there is a direct correlation between access to good information at the local level local news and civic
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participation um so again like we need to make sure that people have good information about what's happening in their communities in their state houses and now with this incredibly extreme
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Federalist Society Supreme Court that we have um they are moving all of the decisions about our basic rights and freedoms to the states and so it is more important than ever before that people
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know who their state representatives are in their state house is writing legislation who their Governors are um and that is not something that we have great civic education in this country about I'm not going to go on an separate
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rant about education in America and where the I know I think we could both do that like let's talk about that that is really important too but what you know another for another day we'll talk about that but um I do I really so it
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was really important that we actually started local because that's also where you can transcend the partisanship in politics right it's really about you know the the parents that you're on the
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sidelines of your kids soccer game or at the PTA meeting with or your co-workers that you're seeing every day like they're they might not share the same values or have the same positions politically or vote for the same
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candidates but there are so many things that just transcend the national politics and our politics our local politics have been really nationalized and so I think there needs to be a massive movement and investment in local
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news infrastructure that that can be like career which is Unapologetic about our values and our positions but also that is more neutral just so people have access to the information about what these folks who live around them in
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their neighborhoods but represent them in their state houses what they believe in what they do because it's going to have a greater and greater impact on their lives and so um the last thing I'll say is because our audience does
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not proactively look for political news or reporting or information that's not part of their day-to-day life at all um they are passive news consumers they don't consume traditional media and so
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we need to meet them where they are with the information that they do want that's relevant to them and then bring them more of that information in a way that is relevant so not the way the New York Times or the Washington Post talks about what's happening in Washington or talks
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about a competitive election if you read those articles which I I don't even know if you you do I certainly don't read long articles anymore either but they're not accessible to most people they're using a lot of jargon and it just it's
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inaccessible term and they're missing the point actually in a lot of ways for people and so at Courier our reporters are really committed to centering our audiences these these Americans who are
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just going about living their lives and want what's best for their family and their children in the story they are the center of the story it's about the small business owner whose business was saved because of Aid that came from um the
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American Rescue plan under the Biden Administration or it's the it's the young guy who went to trade school and now has a really lucrative career um installing solar panels because of
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investments in clean energy that came from the IRA or it's about the mom who can't believe that her kids can't read the books that she grew up reading that taught her so much about the history of
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this country and racism and and and opportunity and things of that nature and so that's how we approach covering politics and issues at the local level is really starting with the impacted individuals and making sure that they
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also know very clearly where their representatives and the candidates running to represent them stand and meeting them where they get that information which is primarily social media and email newsletters so you know
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our reporters don't write long articles that no one's going to read um they boil the most important information and stories down into Graphics that are skimmable and vertical video um like you do so much explainers this is what
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people consume so you have to do that and frankly we shouldn't be at Courier as ahead of the curve in the news industry as we are and I say that humbly but I say it genuinely that news
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organizations need to understand that the format and the consumption habits of all people have changed and you need to deliver them the content they will consume to inform them and not just hold
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on to this idea that you're going to convince more and more people to come to your sites or to read your long articles or to pay for your your physical newspapers instead you need to invest in hiring correspondents and reporters like
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we have who can break down news on Tik Tok in interesting compelling and quick edited ways because that's how you you're going to inform people yeah and you are doing that I mean I really love
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your Instagram feed I follow it all the time you have some really great correspondents right now you have Courier in you're saying 11 states um Arizona Virginia Pennsylvania Wisconsin
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Michigan Florida Iowa North Carolina Nevada New Hampshire and then there's one more and then we're going to be launching Texas this month oh Texas that's cool great I mean I I have to
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tell people each of the states each site uh for each state is branded differently to really appeal to that local flavor the local market um the way our local newspapers used to do um that shut down over time and people really used to
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trust their local newspapers and then Sinclair media came in and bought up all local television so you're getting like a national feed from a right-wing billionaire through what looks like your
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local news person so Courier has come in and each state is branded differently for example in Arizona it gives local and state news like everything from what's going on with local schools um and the recent inclusion of this kind of
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far-right propaganda teaching materials that they're doing down in Arizona right now to you have an article that's like nine locally owned barber shops and Arizona's favorite places to go for this and state Republicans trying to kill the
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office of economic growth in Arizona um what to do around Phoenix for Valentine's Day if you are with all your girls you know like it's everything from National politics local politics State politics stuff for your education and
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then like what we used to get from our news which is like Hey try this new restaurant cuz it's awesome it's the kind of thing that people are missing that literally is absent from the market and as you're saying it's not like you
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should be on the Forefront of you shouldn't be like hey by the way people want real news about the stuff that actually matters to them and they don't constantly want to be told you know whatever we're being told Taylor Swift
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blah blah blah whatever it is that we're being fed constantly to stay angry because angry keeps us clicking that's actually not what regular people want and as you're saying often what is considered Progressive or liberal is is
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just regular facts and I don't know when regular facts became politicized but people like well this is a very liberal bias station you're like they're just giving information that isn't false and that feels left to you but that's
00:24:12
actually not the truth and that's why you're saying more people are actually feeling the same way they just don't know it because they've been told not to feel that way because it's political if I asked you how many
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honest you deserve it honey love.com politics I think what you've got going is very successful you're obviously one of the fastest growing news networks in the country on online you have about 2 million subscribers hundreds of
00:29:00
thousands of followers on Tik Tok and Instagram which gives you a huge weekly reach which is wonderful like I said I actually really love your short form videos I watch them all the time um but your website is also really easy to
00:29:12
navigate and I always say that I'm such a big fan of websites that are good you know like when a website is easy to work with and easy to navigate I love to give it props because they're not all like that you know yours is very very user
00:29:23
friendly how do you feel that it's going career as far as growth you're obviously extending to Texas which to me is wonderful because talk about an information desert yeah no Texas is going to be and Texas will be our
00:29:36
biggest news room we're going to have five Regional um hubs there over time we're launching Dallas Fort Worth soon um as the first Hub but Texas is you know it's a small country um and it is
00:29:47
unique in a lot of ways but I founded Courier and I I still remember like it was yesterday at banging down doors trying to convince people of the need of this and now I I really to pinch myself that it's real and it's bigger than I
00:29:59
could imagine it's far bigger than me and it really is a testament to the incredible reporters we have in all of our states we have five full-time reporters and social media correspondents in every one of our states they are the ones who choose um
00:30:12
you know the names and The Branding and the coverage um that is important to the people on the ground so I'm the founder I'm the publisher but like they are the ones who know what people in the states care about and that local impact is so
00:30:24
important and to your point about our model our model is no different than any news organization ever over time most people do not want political news as the as the core of what they want for Content um they really want stuff that's
00:30:36
more useful to them things that they can do with their family on the weekends or um you know the the new restaurant that is opening like you mentioned and so that's not you know it's not a koi strategy by any means it's just giving
00:30:48
people what they want so we can also get them informed in the process and and it it it's you know it works it's we wouldn't be growing at the rate that we are right now if people weren't excited about the content that they get in their
00:31:01
inboxes every day and the thing that's really unique about us outside of the fact that we don't mind having a point of view and we don't believe in objectivity uh we believe in transparency is that we actually really
00:31:14
really care about whether or not our coverage our reporting is informing our audience and is increasing their their civic participation and so we we run experiments and we measure that because
00:31:28
we can do that in a digital ecosystem and every time we've run one of these experiments it is proving that we are we are increasing um people's engagement on issues like reproductive freedom and gun
00:31:41
control and action on climate change simply by delivering them good news and information every day and you know I I was a political strategist for over a decade um in Progressive politics and
00:31:53
one of my biggest frustrations was that all of of the investment in informing voters about what Democrats stood for and their values and who they were was all through political advertising and
00:32:06
you talk about people no longer trusting or having fatigue with the media and news political advertising is not the solution um and it was always the only counter to the right-wing's vast media
00:32:19
complex that really does affect the weather the information ecosystem we live in and so um I just I I think that it's so important um you know we took a lot of arrows in our back in the early
00:32:31
days of Courier because it was seen as controversial and I think we've really turned a corner and that's a testament to just the reporters and their incredible work all of our newsrooms have won awards um that were started a
00:32:44
few years ago press Awards within their states our political correspondent in Arizona cam just won best tick tocker in uh the Phoenix New Phoenix uh magazine and we didn't know that was a surprise
00:32:57
but so I just think in general we need to meet people where they are we have to get them the information that they need to be informed and there's so many ways to do that and you do that and people need to come to that understanding we're not going back to the way of centralized
00:33:10
old media we're just not this is Media like you you run a media channel Lee like a really incredibly effective one and there's just the world has changed and our technology is changing so so
00:33:22
quickly that in order to make sure that we don't lose the rights and freedoms we hold dear we don't lose democracy we have to adapt and evolve and I I think career is a good model for that I think there's other models for that in the
00:33:35
ecosystem and I just hope that we see more and more of it because the best antidote to right-wing propaganda and disinformation is increasing access and flow of good information where people
00:33:46
are it's that simple it really is yeah uh you know there's almost a pathological need to both side things with regular media because you're trying to uh appeal to both you don't want to lose a single advertising dollar you
00:33:59
don't want to lose a single person that might put their eyeballs on the screen but we're not giving people the proper information and they're really not doing well often when the work I do and I'm sure you've heard it too is that I will explain something and tell people
00:34:10
something and they say well why are you saying that you're just preaching to the choir and I'm like do you know how essential it is to preach to the choir to tell people that they're not losing their minds that what they're seeing is actually crazy that there isn't both
00:34:21
sides to potential authoritarianism that saying I want to be a dictator and you are the lead Republican candidate is not like I don't have to be like well sometimes people say dictators are good I don't need to give both sides of that
00:34:33
there's not both sides of that you know and so I feel like preaching to the choir is actually essential because there is such a strong right-wing ecosystem that we don't counterbalance um that that really does
00:34:47
need to be out there giving as much real truthful information that like you said meets people where they are um and what you're doing is so essential I mean I've been saying for a long time that we need something to compete with
00:34:59
the what the old networks used to be in a way that I would personally I would personally love to be able to go to some site at the end of the day that would tell me the news I needed to know you know like when you used to be able to go
00:35:12
to the six o'clock news or the 9 o'clock news or you would read the morning paper and then you could go on with your flipping day right like that would be absolutely great where you're not like oh my God like I have to be 24 hours scrolling this you know so I don't miss
00:35:25
something and and you're only getting a part of the story because they don't really know the story yet so they're just kind of trying to tease you into being there all day and I'm like I don't think most people want that most people don't want to spend their entire day trying to get a full story by watching
00:35:38
you know for 17 hours I understand that we're in a different media environment than we used to but what are your thoughts on helping us call the news a bit to allow people to have a life again yeah no it's a great point because you
00:35:51
know news fatigue is at an unprecedented high in this country we have so many people that are tuning out which which is also dangerous but I feel that exactly when they can't exactly when they can't tune out right and I am sure that you feel this way too right because
00:36:04
you end up consuming so much negative information like so many depressing things right like the state of our country right now is in Peril the future of our country and what what direction we're going in it's really really really
00:36:17
really fragile and so um we do need people to be informed and we need to figure out how to get them engaged and I just want to mention to underscore your point like preaching to the choir has also never been more important because the choir are going to be the ones that
00:36:31
get loud and organize their communities and their relationships around this and they need to be armed with good information and they need to be reminded also that like we have momentum like right now I would rather be us who want
00:36:44
to have a democracy and want to have um progress on the issues that we've talked about more than I would ever want to be on the other side like we actually I think are turning a corner where more people while they don't want to tune
00:36:56
tune into the news necessarily they really don't want the extremist positions or policies that are being touted by Trump and and the right they really don't I believe that I have so much faith in the American people and I
00:37:09
have faith that they will show up again in this election the way that they have and we need to also like Foster and and nurture that hope and sustain it and a lot of that is also informing people of
00:37:20
all of the excuse my language that they are threatening because we've got to get mad we can't lose our emotional reaction to what they're doing we can't get numb to it because they are counting on us getting numb to it and so it's the
00:37:33
responsibility of people like you and me to also make it engaging and fun for our audiences so they don't lose hope and they don't lose um the ability to stay informed and engaged and so I think it's
00:37:46
really important something that I I we talk about a lot at Courier but I know our our mutual friend Simon Rosenberg is an evangelist this for this too is about empowering people people to be the ones
00:37:58
who are sharing the good information right taking the the the you know the graphics and the vertical video the short video clips from you and our correspondents at Courier posting them on their social media talking about them with their friends the the stories and
00:38:11
the information they're getting from them because we actually like we can own the conversation we can affect the weather now the more of us are doing this and sharing this good information
00:38:22
in different ways and and that is something anyone can do if they don't money to give to candidates or campaigns or causes if they don't have the time to volunteer and make calls or text messages on behalf of campaigns they can
00:38:35
still do a really really really play a really really important role in arming people with content and information that does change their perspective and conversation over time yeah I always say we're responsible for our people and
00:38:48
that means all of our people you know the people at our dining room table you know I've always I'm always having political discussions with the person who colors my hair ha you know like we I've completely changed her politics you know like that kind of thing where you
00:39:01
know she's like well this is and she'll say something wrong and I'm like okay I think that is incorrect would you like to know why and she's like all right you know and so we have these discussion we are responsible for our people and part
00:39:12
of that part of the reason I started what I was doing was I was like people are just getting it wrong but they don't have time to like weed through all the information and so I'm just going to make these little short form videos that they can say to their mom here's the thing I was talking about here's you
00:39:25
know I'm just going to send this little video to you and you can know like this is what we were discussing at lunch here's what I was trying to say and because I have time to kind of pull it out together so it it makes sense it's a syct I always say like I'm saying what
00:39:38
people can't quite get into words and I think that's so important because like you said if we come back to this choir analogy like who are the choir right the choir are the people that come every
00:39:49
week to the place of worship the the organization and they come and they sing the word they're the ones that are closest to the word they're the ones that are bringing people in if we've ever seen Flippin you know uh Sister Act
00:40:03
we know what a a a good choir can do for a church right they can bring people in they can fill those pews and that's what we need to do we can't have people be exhausted and we can't have people be hopeless and we can't keep giving them
00:40:15
negative horrible scary news we have to say here are proactive things we can do here is something you can actively do here is something that's working you know because you look at something like the Border that's happening right now we said it's a crisis it's a crisis it's a
00:40:28
crisis and people got together they worked together they wrote A bill if the part of the bill is closing the border which is all we ever hear about and then those same people Crisis crisis people are saying we're not going to vote for this bill and we need to tell people
00:40:41
this is what's happening and you should be outraged at this no matter what letter you've always had beside your name this is the truth of what's going on this is what was offered this is what's being rejected and here's why it's being rejected and that should make
00:40:55
you think and it should make you mad I think what you're doing with your newsletters that come directly to people's inboxes for their own personal local news what you're doing with the podcast you guys have a great podcast
00:41:07
called Vibes only which the concept is so great because it's like people assess their Universe not necessarily on facts but on Vibes right they're like how do I feel about the world like I can tell you the economy is
00:41:20
doing great but you're like I don't feel like it's doing great I don't I don't feel like it that's my vibe right and then we make decisions based on our Vib so your podcast is called Vibes only and I think that's amazing legislation is you know essentially it's boring right
00:41:33
and it often comes down to how people are feeling about politics um and so we need to give them a sense of what's really going on so they get a feeling based in truth and I'm just so grateful
00:41:45
that you guys are out there especially going into this year because the role of media in 20124 the role of proper information when so much is on the line like you said it's democracy is so fragile and
00:41:58
people don't realize it and I I see it on the left and the right I see people on the right who have no idea that what they are choosing and what they think they love is going to take so much from them and they have no idea and I see
00:42:10
people on the far left who are like I could never vote for Joe Biden I don't care if the other option is Trump you guys don't understand I couldn't do it and I think no you don't understand Go
00:42:21
please and read project 2025 because you're never getting a chance to vote again if these people get into power and it literally does not matter how you feel what your Vibes are the fact of the
00:42:35
matter is we're in such trouble and we have a system that was set up to allow the minority to take power and we have to bring out such a majority and then we
00:42:48
have to start changing things and people need to understand that and if we have to preach it every single day as well as putting in like gallentine type you know information to kind of keep our lights on then let's do
00:43:02
it right um thank you for doing what you do thank you for having Courier I really want you to tell people how they can find it how they can connect with you how they can follow what you're doing because like you said all we need to do
00:43:15
we need to keep growing because the mainstream media they're not going to help us here we need other sources we do thank you so much Lee I so appreciate it so folks can go to careernew room.com
00:43:26
you can find all of our state newsrooms there you can also find great newsletters at the national level about the conversation um you can follow it at career Newsroom on all of the things uh Tik Tok Instagram uh I'll always call X
00:43:40
Twitter sorry and you don't have to be sorry to me I'm always gonna call it Twitter too I refuse and I'm at Tara emcg because Le and I share a last name so we must be related we
00:43:52
say and Tara _ Instagram I always in my stories post all of our newsrooms content so folks can see it share it with people who live in those States and I want to I want to just tack one thing on everything you said that I just
00:44:05
couldn't agree with morle that at a time when so many people um including me some days feel so hopeless I will say being informed and being a part of this movement of being pro-democracy of
00:44:19
paying attention to what they're threatening what they're doing what they will do if they are in power uh Trump if Trump is reelect Ed it is empowering to know what's happening when you feel so hopeless it is empowering to know one
00:44:32
you're not alone there are people like us that are doing this work every day so many That You Don't See behind the scenes that are working on this that there is community in this and this movement is what is going to absolutely
00:44:45
destroy their much smaller meaker weaker movement that relies on people not being informed not being engaged and not participating in voting so there are so many many more of us and if we all stick
00:44:58
together and if we keep talking and we talk to the people in our lives we talk to the people on our social media feeds and we make sure that they know what's really going on that is how we are going to overcome it and we're going to end up
00:45:10
in a much better place so I am just so grateful for the work that you do and lending your voice to this cause I think it's so so important and I just I'm so happy to be in community with you and and and with all of your amazing fans
00:45:22
that I know that are thinking about how they can also participate and so we want to make that as easy and as empowering and and frankly you know really meaningful as possible because it is nothing nothing could really matter more
00:45:34
right now no nothing could matter more right now uh an autocratic America is the end of the world and I don't say that um hyperbolically I mean this level
00:45:46
of military power under the hands of an autocratic leader is the most horrific thing I can think of on top of the fact that this entire party doesn't doesn't believe in things like climate change or women's rights or gay rights like
00:45:59
literally the undermining of almost every pinning of uh the American soci Civil and social and all these all the rights we have fought for from the dawn of time to now in this country are ready
00:46:12
to be rolled back and we have to get really serious about that but we can do it with while nurturing hope and while nurturing the idea of a far better America I often say let's just keep the
00:46:24
country's head above water in 202 for and then let's start freaking swimming in a far better Direction absolutely I couldn't say it better I want to thank you for joining us today Tara like I couldn't be happier that ker news is out
00:46:38
there and I just want to see you guys grow and grow thank you so muchly it means so much to me I feel the same so that was the amazing Tara mcgallen the founder and publisher of Courier who is finding a new way to
00:46:50
bring us the information we need in this landscape of decentralized media there used to to be trusted news sources but our Collective trust in the media and what the truth is has splintered Courier is changing that by building a different
00:47:04
model a new take on an old format that honors local news with real reporters on the ground state news where these big Federal decisions are actually playing out and explanations of the biggest issues of the day the way the majority
00:47:17
of people Now consume them which is in bite-sized pieces online this is a Make It or Break It election year for our democracy and mainstream media has done nothing but enabled the both sides garbage that brought us this close to
00:47:29
authoritarianism it's time to support a new type of media one that exists to give people the facts but also to protect and strengthen our democracy I want to thank Tara for joining us today and you for caring enough about
00:47:41
democracy to be here now go check out Courier on your socials or sign up for one of your State's feeds until next week pgs the politics girl podcast is written and performed by me Lee mcgallen in
00:47:54
partnership with the Midas media Network and produced and edited by happy warrior entertainment All rights reserved
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