Especially liked your segment on Transatlantica, which, as an (Latin) American with a longtime longing for the UK, where I've visited only once, had me nodding. As to your video chat with Anand, hmm, fun. I promised myself a few years ago, I would try to join Substack, but it's terrifying.
Mainstream media shot itself in the foot when it started putting up Internet paywalls & limiting the number of free articles readers could access. They're competing with new media outlets that fish the Internet with freebie-bait-loaded traps.
Because the Internet IS the primary distribution channel for any type of media these days, and most younger consumers no longer remember the days when newspapers & glossy magazines were must-reads. Brand by brand, mainstream media no longer has much gravitational pull. And it's competing with media that is largely single-person or small-numbers-of-people operations whose operational costs are comparatively low.
And, of course, there is the very real phenomenon, too, that the world is moving away from long-form, stylized writing. (On a personal level, this just SLAYS me since _I_ am a highly stylized long-form writer! It's like I've spent my life as a priestess for a dying God. Oh well. 😀)
The ever-prescient Marshall McLuhan more-or-less predicted this would happen. Consumers are increasingly rejecting top-down "broadcast" models where they are expected to passively consume content. Television is more interactive than movies & print, and the Internet is even _more_ interactive thann television with its ability to (for lack of a better word) _democratize_ content. The _medium_ is the message, remember? 😀
I’m afraid MAGA’s expiration date extends well beyond King Cheeto’s. But the transparent lies, chaos and arrogant - even gleeful - transgressions of these past two weeks reminds me of what Kirk Douglas’s Spartacus says just before his fateful showdown with Laurence Olivier and the Romans: “This will end the only way it could have ended.” In the case of MAGA the end means an undeniable failure to deliver on empty promises, and plenty of abject misery for lots of Americans and baffled observers from abroad. We’re all in for it.
I have just returned from two weeks in London , bliss , aside from heavy wind and rain.I escaped from Trumpland to see friends and my brother and it worked until I went to bed and pulled out the laptop. Even the books I had bought from the LRB could not banish the horror . What did was walking the streets and having tea with old friends and walking along the Thames. Thank you for this post.
I laughed reading about Brits in the service industry saying “sorry” when they cannot get right on something. My husband and I finally took our first trip there this summer. Cab drivers were “sorry” for the warm weather. Hotel workers were “sorry” for assisting another guest in front of us. Wait staff were “ sorry” for being busy waiting on other diners. As a New Yorker, I cannot recall ever hearing anyone apologize. I love both cities now.
I wholeheartedly agree that the press should operate free and clear of those they report on, without fear of retribution. I hope we, as a country, never stoop to subservience to those in power.
Really appreciated your juxtaposition of England and the U.S. Thanks, Tina, for being the dual citizen we all would like to be, along with the nuances of each culture we wish we could corral in our own lives. Transatlantica, indeed. . . .
Tina. Fascinated by what you write about Modi (jaipur lit fest is on my wish list for ‘26). As always my gripe is against the supine media. Why did they only wake up when Modi was vulnerable? Surely the important years were when he was all powerful. Who can we rely on now to speak truth to power while Musk and Trump run riot? Is it just podcasters and substackers (is this a word?) speaking out? Only to be ignored or tweeted against. There are no grown ups anymore. PS Loved your live with Anand but what can we do about the madness? From the UK branch of Transatlantica!
Absolutely helped shift my perspective of what I viewed as harrowing loss of work from the folks that came before, but this is helping remind us of the future we are looking forward too.
Warren Stephens, the billionaire Arkansan banker about to take over as Ambassador to the UK will do a fantastic job representing the interests of... well, not the United States (how quaint!), but certainly Mar-a-Lago. Apologies to the Brits, but we're no longer sending our finest.
Right Tina. I'm catching this high low thing, having long been low, how you make it sound Joe and Jane Doe from somewhere flyover land might buy tickets to Transatlantica, hop on, and perhaps stop in for a glass in the Pistachio Room. Well sure, let's just all meet at the Hamptons and goggle at who's who from you know . . . who knows, someone might catch a striped bass, but make sure to move on before the champagne loses the bubbles. I'll pass, thanks, but in a word, Refreshing.
Tina, as usual your fabulous writing touches me, as does the hope of young American journalists overturning the lies, leading us out of this morass. My journalist daughter is contemplating moving to London where a job awaits, friends consoling her with “at least your young children will grow up with a British accent “. Thank you for your posts. They strengthen my resolve.
Agree about train horns and dogs—how poignant that photo is! Boy and his dog both deserved a chance to survive and thrive.
Especially liked your segment on Transatlantica, which, as an (Latin) American with a longtime longing for the UK, where I've visited only once, had me nodding. As to your video chat with Anand, hmm, fun. I promised myself a few years ago, I would try to join Substack, but it's terrifying.
Mainstream media shot itself in the foot when it started putting up Internet paywalls & limiting the number of free articles readers could access. They're competing with new media outlets that fish the Internet with freebie-bait-loaded traps.
Because the Internet IS the primary distribution channel for any type of media these days, and most younger consumers no longer remember the days when newspapers & glossy magazines were must-reads. Brand by brand, mainstream media no longer has much gravitational pull. And it's competing with media that is largely single-person or small-numbers-of-people operations whose operational costs are comparatively low.
And, of course, there is the very real phenomenon, too, that the world is moving away from long-form, stylized writing. (On a personal level, this just SLAYS me since _I_ am a highly stylized long-form writer! It's like I've spent my life as a priestess for a dying God. Oh well. 😀)
The ever-prescient Marshall McLuhan more-or-less predicted this would happen. Consumers are increasingly rejecting top-down "broadcast" models where they are expected to passively consume content. Television is more interactive than movies & print, and the Internet is even _more_ interactive thann television with its ability to (for lack of a better word) _democratize_ content. The _medium_ is the message, remember? 😀
I’m afraid MAGA’s expiration date extends well beyond King Cheeto’s. But the transparent lies, chaos and arrogant - even gleeful - transgressions of these past two weeks reminds me of what Kirk Douglas’s Spartacus says just before his fateful showdown with Laurence Olivier and the Romans: “This will end the only way it could have ended.” In the case of MAGA the end means an undeniable failure to deliver on empty promises, and plenty of abject misery for lots of Americans and baffled observers from abroad. We’re all in for it.
I have just returned from two weeks in London , bliss , aside from heavy wind and rain.I escaped from Trumpland to see friends and my brother and it worked until I went to bed and pulled out the laptop. Even the books I had bought from the LRB could not banish the horror . What did was walking the streets and having tea with old friends and walking along the Thames. Thank you for this post.
I laughed reading about Brits in the service industry saying “sorry” when they cannot get right on something. My husband and I finally took our first trip there this summer. Cab drivers were “sorry” for the warm weather. Hotel workers were “sorry” for assisting another guest in front of us. Wait staff were “ sorry” for being busy waiting on other diners. As a New Yorker, I cannot recall ever hearing anyone apologize. I love both cities now.
I wholeheartedly agree that the press should operate free and clear of those they report on, without fear of retribution. I hope we, as a country, never stoop to subservience to those in power.
Really appreciated your juxtaposition of England and the U.S. Thanks, Tina, for being the dual citizen we all would like to be, along with the nuances of each culture we wish we could corral in our own lives. Transatlantica, indeed. . . .
Tina. Fascinated by what you write about Modi (jaipur lit fest is on my wish list for ‘26). As always my gripe is against the supine media. Why did they only wake up when Modi was vulnerable? Surely the important years were when he was all powerful. Who can we rely on now to speak truth to power while Musk and Trump run riot? Is it just podcasters and substackers (is this a word?) speaking out? Only to be ignored or tweeted against. There are no grown ups anymore. PS Loved your live with Anand but what can we do about the madness? From the UK branch of Transatlantica!
Absolutely helped shift my perspective of what I viewed as harrowing loss of work from the folks that came before, but this is helping remind us of the future we are looking forward too.
Warren Stephens, the billionaire Arkansan banker about to take over as Ambassador to the UK will do a fantastic job representing the interests of... well, not the United States (how quaint!), but certainly Mar-a-Lago. Apologies to the Brits, but we're no longer sending our finest.
Right Tina. I'm catching this high low thing, having long been low, how you make it sound Joe and Jane Doe from somewhere flyover land might buy tickets to Transatlantica, hop on, and perhaps stop in for a glass in the Pistachio Room. Well sure, let's just all meet at the Hamptons and goggle at who's who from you know . . . who knows, someone might catch a striped bass, but make sure to move on before the champagne loses the bubbles. I'll pass, thanks, but in a word, Refreshing.
Tina, as usual your fabulous writing touches me, as does the hope of young American journalists overturning the lies, leading us out of this morass. My journalist daughter is contemplating moving to London where a job awaits, friends consoling her with “at least your young children will grow up with a British accent “. Thank you for your posts. They strengthen my resolve.
I couldn’t agree more!