A New Era of the Media Means a New Era of "Fourth Watch"

Fourth Watch enters the Substack-verse

1997 was a simpler time. 30 million people were watching each episode of Seinfeld and ER on NBC. 38 films would gross more than $50 million at the box office. Facebook didn’t exist – Mark Zuckerberg was still in middle school.

In 1997, 57% of the country had trust in “mass media,” according to the yearly Gallup poll. That included 53% of independents and 41% of Republicans. Only 15% had no trust in the press at all.

A lot has changed over the past 25 years. And one key factor is how “choice” was massively less prevalent than it was now. That choice changes television and film viewing habits, and how a person spends their free time. But it also opens people’s eyes to the reality of the corporate press too. According to the same Gallup poll from this year, 38% of Americans have no trust in the mass media, while just 34% say they trust it. That includes only 27% of independents and 14% of Republicans.

As trust in institutions erode across the board, and consumers have more choice than ever before, we’ve seen the rise of places like Substack in wrestling influence and power away from the Acela Media based in giant, decaying newsrooms in NY and DC.

And I’m thrilled to bring Fourth Watch over to Substack in 2023.

What is Fourth Watch? There are four key pillars of Fourth Watch – intellectual honesty, intellectual consistency, intellectual curiosity, and intellectual discomfort. Honesty and consistency – independence from either political party, independence from any established belief. And curiosity and discomfort – a never-ending desire to be challenged, to interrogate our own beliefs. Along the way here you’ll find voices from across the spectrum, and within the media. Because conversation is how we get ourselves out of this mess. Nuance over nonsense. Disagreement strongly welcomed.

Each week free subscribers will receive a lengthy, weekly newsletter, and some of the bi-monthly podcasts. Paid subscribers will get extra “rabbit hole” columns that deep dive on a single topic, plus extended versions of the podcast, more video clips, and other extra content.

For a dozen years, I was in the media – with stops at CNN, Fox News, NBC, TheBlaze, Mediaite and TVNewser. It is because I love the media that it so pains me to see what it has become, particularly over the past 7 years. The introspection-free, self-serious, geographically-insulated apparatus that feeds most of what counts as “the media” these days has sadly lost its way. I was in the corporate media, but now I’m on the outside – physically, in Dallas, and intellectually. And it is in this environment where independent media is thriving that allows me to connect both the insider and outsider experience.

On the independence part, some basic “full disclosure” elements about me – I voted for Bush in 2004, Obama in 2008, no one in 2012 because my job was so closely tied to the election for CNN I felt uncomfortable casting a ballot, and in 2016 and 2020, I couldn’t bring myself to stomach voting for either candidate so I went with who I felt best embodied the type of candidate I’d like to see in the Oval Office (I wrote in Judge Judy in 2016 and Kanye West in 2020). I am a registered independent, and, while Fourth Watch is not overtly political, this will likely veer into political territory at times – and I’ll try my best to continue that transparency as much as possible.

Why “Fourth Watch”? A few reasons. “Fourth Watch” refers first and foremost to the “Fourth Estate” or fourth power. The Fourth Estate refers to the press, or news media, or journalism in general. In America, the reference to the Fourth Estate is often contrasted with the three branches of government, with the press playing a watchdog role. However dating back earlier to Europe, the Fourth Estate was a separate entity from the nobility, the clergy and the commoners. In a way, there were the two spectrums of elites, and the people – and the press, to be the conduit, the distiller. But “Fourth Watch” also connotes a more detailed analysis – not just giving something a first look, but a series of interrogations. What you find on a fourth watch of a TV show, a fourth read of a book, a fourth examination of a particularly insane cultural moment – it’ll be far more substantive than what you’ve got on watch one.

Over the past few years, you can find my written work at NBC and The Hill, at The Federalist and Mediaite, among other outlets. But most of the time you would have found me writing the Fourth Watch newsletter in its previous form. Since the newsletter launched in December 2019, it has been under the umbrella of TheFirst. I want to thank Chris Balfe in particular and the team there for their support over the past three years. They have been great partners throughout this entire process, where I was able to write exactly what I wanted, whenever I wanted.

I also wrote a book about the media, “Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy With Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People,” which comes out February 21. Find out more information about it and pre-order here.

Now a new era of Fourth Watch begins, on a platform I’ve been a fan of and intrigued about for years. I’m a subscriber to many Substack newsletters myself – from Bari Weiss, to Glenn Greenwald, to Andrew Sullivan, to Matt Taibbi, to Josh Barro, to Matt Yglesias, to Mark Halperin, to Ethan Strauss, to Erick Erickson, to Bridget Phetasy, to Geoff Shackelford, to Jim Treacher, to Ken LaCorte, and more – and now I’m looking forward to joining the mix.

So what changes? The lengthy, weekly newsletter remains the same, and free to all. The bi-monthly podcasts return and stay free on all platforms as well. Only now, there will be a paid tier where extra content will be available. That includes twice-per-month columns that deep dive on a single topic. Also extended versions of the podcast, and extra video clips. I’ll even include my research notes for the newsletters and podcasts for paying subscribers. And more to come. (Founding subscribers get something additional too…)

As I said when I started Fourth Watch, I don’t want to destroy the media. I love the media – and want it to get better. So now over on Substack – join me, let’s build a better media together.