I’m at Doha Airport halfway through a 30-hour schlep home to Australia, and something just happened.
The first glimmer of a fightback for the news industry after 25 years under Google's illegal yoke.
The start of a movement, which is gaining momentum across the planet.
I took Scotch and Watch on stage, live, before a studio audience of invite-only media execs to talk about the things less spoken about.
About a world after Google, about the end of social media, about the renaissance of the news media, premium content, advertising, authenticity, and a truth revival.
New York’s media elite turned out in force, bringing strong opinions, energy, shared purpose, and camaraderie not seen for a while.
The VIPs in the room run news brands relied upon by four in five Americans. That’s gravitas.
They listened and then responded in clear tones about what’s next as Big Tech’s monopoly era sunsets.
What was notably different was that it was not so much an if, as a when.
And then a how.
How do we begin to work together to build a better future with ground-breaking information innovation for generation next?
One that’s not reliant on corrupted algos and self-serving, gratuitous, and illegal profiteering, by geeks who don’t give any shits for people or facts.
It’s OK to be angry, I said. You have permission. You haven’t done anything wrong. Something wrong has been done to you. The DoJ, three judges, and two Presidents have confirmed this.
Taking Future Media’s Scotch and Watch podcast on tour, and putting the rage on stage on Broadway, is my contribution to setting our industry back on track.
We did it in the penthouse of Great Jones, the first distillery to open in New York after Prohibition. The bourbon went down well. The conversation too.
Kudos to Stephanie Layser for joining me up on stage. She’s a dead-set hero. Her bombshell evidence at the ad tech antitrust trial turned the tide.
She proved Google held publishers ransom with third rate tech - and when she complained, they dismissed her as emotional.
This 😤
Well, f*ck that.
Hear us roar. We are the custodians of news. We are the victims. We care about the people. We are mad as hell. And we’ll take it from here.
Hat tip to Jonathan Kanter and the DoJ. Thank you. 👏
And thanks to my friends Stephanie Layser (left), Andres Angelani (right), Matt McCawley (middle), Fausta Ballesteros (second right), as well as Tony Telloni, Gino Bautista, Tim Chatfield, and the rest of the team at Wizeline who sponsored Scotch and Watch live and made the entire event possible. 🫡
#lfg
Subscribe and join the movement
Don’t miss Scotch and Watch or the other Future Media podcasts. Subscribe for free on:
And if you want to host a future edition of Scotch and Watch, drop me a line below, or DM me on LinkedIn.
Share this post