October 31, 2025 • 23 mins
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Anyways, welcome to this episode of the Nerdbrand
Podcast where contentgatekeepers, how has it changed?
SPEAKER_00 (00:30):
Um Yeah, it's just it I'm at the point that I've
been dealing with my endojourney for so long.
It is what it is.
If it's too much, tell me.
But otherwise, I've just it'sit's a good idea.
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Your reaction to your reaction to it and how
you've been handling thesituation over the past six
months has been, you know, Imean, you get you should you
should get a lot of credit forit.
It really has been impressive.
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
It it's been a lot, and I will not lie.
And you know, this is somethingwe can cut later, but a
potential podcast idea I thinkwould be cool is how do small
businesses especially recoverwhen you have a health emergency
or have something go on and youhave to step back.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
We've had three in Nerdbrand in five years.
SPEAKER_00 (01:14):
But then when you come back in, it's like, how do
you get back into that swing?
Because life happens toeverybody.
Oh, yeah.
That would almost be kind of acool, like, you know, because no
one talks about that.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
Yeah, business coaches try to talk about it,
but I think they offer verycanned responses that just isn't
a fit, obviously, for everybody.
And that's that'sunderstandable.
But yeah, there is a bit of astrategy you have to implement
for recovery, but not everybusiness can do it.
Sometimes you just kind of haveto barrel through and do that.
Uh so yeah, let's talk aboutlike the news cycle rush to
(01:47):
judgment.
Because this has gotten to bereally bad, honestly.
Uh media outlets, they're just Ithere's always been this thing
where you gotta be the first toprint, the first to tell about
it, or whatever.
And um, but even then, and youknow, it was like you gotta make
sure you got it right becausethey were very well aware, if
they put it in print, theimplications of a lawsuit that
(02:07):
could happen.
It seems like now that's justnot even there, which has caused
an erosion of trust, and it'sjust where narrative trump facts
now.
Um be careful saying that word.
Yeah.
But so and the internet hasaccelerated this.
So once the story's out, evenit's wrong, everybody just
thinks it's true.
They don't really try to followup research.
(02:27):
It's not gonna happen.
Whatever outlet that gets therefirst and says the thing, they
kind of understand they'reestablishing in the narrative.
And that is very dangerous thatwe're in right now.
SPEAKER_00 (02:36):
It really is.
And it's it's crazy that, youknow, and this is something I
can go on a tangent aboutbecause we had to study this
when I got my master's indigital media, how information
spreads, and how, you know, thiswas back in 2018, 2019 when I
was getting my master's degree.
How, you know, there were therewould be theories or fears that,
(02:57):
hey, as technology expands, youknow, you know, I know Donald
Trump coined the term fake news,and in 2017, 2018, everybody
made fun of it.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
Well, here's the funny thing.
He actually didn't.
It was actually a CNN reporter.
SPEAKER_00 (03:11):
Oh, was it?
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
And he turned it around and said, No, you're fake
news.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
Uh but you know, regardless, the perception is
that he's known for that.
Um good to know though.
Um, but like, but nowadays it'slike, okay, that is true.
And I'm not being like, oh, I'mmaking a Donald Trump reference,
but it's true.
Like, there's so much that goesout there.
And because technology hasexpanded and grown so much that
(03:39):
everyone has it, it's so easy toseem legit.
SPEAKER_01 (03:45):
Oh, yeah.
Everybody like I've seen so manyYouTubers now that they're
coming on now and they arereporting news as if they're
newscasters.
Right.
And and that's understandable.
I mean, that's sort of wherethings are going.
SPEAKER_00 (03:56):
Well, and then what they're doing is they're mixing
in their reactions or theiropinions with it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
Yeah, it's commentary, it's not reporting.
SPEAKER_00 (04:03):
Exactly.
And so they're crossing thoselines, pitching it as this is
news, this is informational, butthen they're throwing in
commentary, and it's like, okay,where it for most people you can
see the difference, but forenough people, it's like, where
do we distinguish that this isfact and this is opinion?
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
And a lot of that I think comes out of the video.
Like everybody now has a videocamera in their pocket and are
able to record or has amicrophone.
SPEAKER_00 (04:30):
I mean audio, like voice notes.
SPEAKER_01 (04:33):
There's there's on Twitter, there are people right
now that are on the ground thatare reporting stories and doing
journalism and trying to followalong and actually do it the
right way.
And uh, I've been watching someof them and how they do it, and
they are brave as hell for whatthey're doing, considering
what's going on on the uh WestCoast.
And so the legacy media isthey've lost their monopoly on
(04:56):
this.
Um, they just have.
But you know, the funny thing isfor years, the media would pay
those to do this withprofessional cameras for years.
People have forgotten this orthey just didn't know about it.
But especially in the age postum OJ Simpson running from the
law and the Bronco, the peoplethat have a camera and have the
(05:17):
means, a video productioncompany, to get on site to get
the photo, to get the video,then would sell that to the
press to air on their televisionstories and screens has always
been a thing.
We would see even even withSpider-Man, that's literally
what Peter Parker did for thenewspaper he worked for.
And so at the end of the day,it's like that still kind of
exists, but now what I see haspivoted and get your thoughts on
(05:42):
this.
Now those people not aren'tnecessarily selling the content,
they're just airing it on theirown channels and monetizing it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
Exactly.
And then it gets to a pointwhere you know, some paparazzi
shooter or somebody who is, youknow, posting a video, for them,
it's not just, oh, I'm gonnasell this and you know, people
can use it for their news thing.
It's I'm gonna post it on myaccount and give me credit so
that I'm associated and I makethe money.
(06:10):
Yeah, it's no longer just oh,I'm gonna sell this exclusively
to CBS and they can use it and Iget royalties, blah, blah, blah.
It's it's shifting.
And the thing that drives mecrazy.
I was actually talking to myboyfriend about this the other
day.
Um, I'm gonna go off on asoapbox, but it's relevant.
I promise.
This is gonna be a podcast wherey'all are probably gonna hear me
(06:31):
talk more than Jason, and Iapologize in advance.
This is your warning now.
Um the thing that gets me is theevolution of technology is
beautiful, it's phenomenal.
Yeah, everyone can have accessto decent quality things so you
can have good cameras for takingpictures with your family, for
shooting videos of those specialmoments, um, and you know, to
(06:53):
have editing things so that way,like if you want to make things
look cool with AI, if you wantto, you know, there's a trend
going on right now where you canupload a picture of two people
and then it generates themhugging each other in a
Polaroid.
I can't tell you how many peopleare doing that with you know
their bodies and like with themand then their mother who's
past.
(07:13):
So then it generates a a decentlooking Polaroid of you know, oh
my gosh, I'm hugging my deadrelative.
Or they're doing it where, youknow, your current self is
hugging your past self.
SPEAKER_01 (07:24):
Yeah, God, this is totally turned into like the
black, uh what the dark blackmirror.
SPEAKER_00 (07:29):
Black mirror, yeah.
But it's it it's cool conceptslike that.
So because technology is outthere and able to do those
things, there are ways that itcan be used and it can be
utilized that is so beautiful.
And being in media, I love it.
That being said, it is also oneof the biggest curses and one of
the things I hate the mostbecause now everyone and their
(07:49):
mother has an iPhone, and youknow, the iPhones are great now,
and even you know, other phones.
I'm just using an iPhone becausethat's what I have.
They have great cameras and theyhave great quality stuff, so it
can they can use that to shootvideos, to record themselves,
they can buy a microphone onAmazon, and next thing you know,
you're a podcaster.
Right.
You can get some apps and someediting subscriptions on your
(08:10):
phone, and then next thing youknow, you're a videographer or
you're a video.
Yeah, yeah, you're an editor.
Um, you know, you can make aTikTok and then one video goes
viral.
Next thing you know, you're asensation and you're famous.
And you know, while there'svalidity to that to an extent,
people don't always understandthat that's not always legit.
(08:32):
It's great to have as like astarting point, or as you're
growing in an industry, or ifyou're just doing something
quick like a social media reel.
Okay, yeah, having all those onyour phone, that's great.
Using a care uh audio on yourphone, that's great.
Getting a cheap microphone justto get started, cool.
Yeah.
But all of a sudden, noweveryone can be a podcaster, now
everyone can be an influencer,now everybody can post this and
(08:53):
that, now everybody can create awebsite and start drop shipping
things from Amazon, and nowthey're a business owner.
SPEAKER_01 (08:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:59):
And it gets to a point where because everyone has
access to it, it's so difficultnow to figure out okay, who's
legit?
Who has an LLC, who is sellingthe thing.
Yeah, who is going to a sceneand providing uh journalism in
an ethical way?
Who is filming something and notediting it to make it look real
(09:21):
and using AI for its evil.
SPEAKER_01 (09:24):
Um, and I would all I would offer advice to help
people filter this.
SPEAKER_00 (09:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:27):
It's really simple.
It is because I was taught thisa long time ago.
Two two things.
One, um, always ask what givesthat person authority to know
what it is that they're tellingyou.
Right.
Like what what makes them theauthority?
Okay.
Yeah, absolutely.
The second thing is start stoptrying to figure out the truth,
start to figure out what's theagenda.
Right.
So in masters, like I wentthrough theology.
(09:50):
And so in your undergraduate inthose courses, you read the book
that they wrote, and you write areport, and then you give a
presentation on the ideal.
But then when you get to themaster's class, you're reading
the same book again.
Now you think, like, why?
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (10:06):
Well, because now you're reading it because you're
now asked what was going throughthe author's mind when they
wrote it?
What was going on in their life?
This perspective has changed.
What was the agenda to write thebook?
SPEAKER_00 (10:18):
Exactly.
And we had the same thing withwith you know, my comm undergrad
and digital media mediagraduate.
But, you know, not a lot ofpeople have that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:28):
It's critical thinking.
It really does exercise that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:30):
We literally had a class called critical thinking.
I'm not joking.
It was like COM 301 or COM 302.
It was critical thinking.
Um, for all the people who wentto Bellerman, that should
trigger a little bit of PTSD.
Um that being said though, tome, that's a Tuesday, right?
Um but it's it's crazy that nota lot of people have that.
(10:53):
So, you know, when you havecases that, you know, a big
breaking story happens, and thenyou have 20 people on Twitter
posting different things aboutthe scenario.
Well, if you went viral for somevideo you made, it can be
related to news or not.
Yeah.
If if you're famous, quoteunquote, then oh, you're
(11:14):
reliable.
Or it's the first thing I saw,so it has to be true.
And because back in the day, ifyou were published, it was
reputable.
Nowadays anybody can publishanything.
So, oh, it's published, it's onthis, it must be legit.
And then you have professionalnews sources who you know, in
the rush, like you said in theintro, it's about being first,
(11:37):
not being accurate.
So then you've got news sourceswho are like, oh, we just
received word that somebodyposted or somebody sent in this
video.
They're Twitter reporters aswell.
Yeah, and they're exactly andthey're not validating, okay, is
this real footage?
Because you can run it through ascanner and tell, okay, is this
AI generated?
Yeah, they're not doing that.
They're just okay, here's thisvideo that somebody told shared
(11:58):
with us.
This is fact, this is real.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
The legacy media can survive this shift.
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
Oh, they can.
SPEAKER_01 (12:04):
They need to pivot from being first to accuracy,
back to what it used to be.
Yeah, because they're not, Imean, the clarification that
comes from uh the White House orfrom a YouTuber or whatever,
right, is usually about twodays, three days after whatever
happens.
And then you go, yeah, becausetime, you need time for that to
clarify.
(12:24):
But the media's already moved onto the next thing that just
happened that somebody tweetedabout, and that's the issue.
They need to really slow downand they need to start focusing
on like you viewers need tofocus on what's the agenda
behind this, right?
Not trying to figure out thetruth.
What's the agenda?
Because you you you'll spot itquickly, and then that'll lead
you to whether or not if it'sreal or true.
SPEAKER_00 (12:44):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (12:45):
But the media themselves, the way that they
can stop the spiraling, and I'mtalking about legacy media, is
is focusing on accuracy,sticking to the facts.
If you watch a YouTube channelon any media outlet, they post
the title of the video and thenyou watch the video.
They actually don't get to thepoint of the video until like
four minutes in, and it's afive-minute video.
Exactly.
And it irritates the hell out ofme.
(13:06):
On like Fox News, I'll criticizethem.
They're they're notorious forthis.
Oh, yeah.
ABC and everybody, they kind oftalk about like the facts in the
first 30 seconds, and then thenext three minutes is bashing
Trump.
And I'm just like, I don't wantto hear about bashing Trump.
SPEAKER_00 (13:19):
Or it's just commentary on what they
reported.
SPEAKER_01 (13:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I get that you don't like whathe said and he sounded like an
idiot, and da-da-da-da-da,whatever your opinion is,
whatever.
I want to know what happened.
ABC done.
And because I will make thatjudgment as a rational human
being on what what's going on.
Like we still have incursionsinto NATO airspace occurring by
Russia.
Okay, and they do it in adifferent way because I remember
(13:43):
growing up in the 80s and the90s and what went on.
And so I'm looking at this andI'm like, I know how this is
gonna play out um because I'veseen this before.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
You know, that's the benefit of my age um and and
living through those times.
Uh, I didn't view those times ascrazy.
I thought maybe at the time theywere, but I can tell you that,
you know, the things that BillClinton did in the office with
his intern was not A, shocking,right, and B a downfall to
(14:12):
society.
SPEAKER_00 (14:14):
Yeah.
I mean, it's sad because likeobviously that doesn't condone
what he did.
No, it doesn't.
If anything, you know, back inthat time it's shocking because
you didn't see that stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:24):
That wasn't but the morality play that came about
from that was rare is what youkind of see now flipping to the
other side.
SPEAKER_00 (14:30):
Exactly.
It kind of was like morality wasimportant and there were ethics,
but then sometime in the 2010sit died.
Yeah, and now people are tryingto come back to it, and people
are trying to focus on the whyand focus on the empathy, and
that's great, but it could beweaponized, it really can,
especially bingo, especiallywith how with technology, with
(14:51):
AI, and all those things.
Um, one of the things I sent toyou, and I don't have my
computer in front of me, so youmight have to interject with the
notes, um, is the Fairness Act.
You know, that was a big thingthat you know when media was
made, it was you have to pitchboth sides.
SPEAKER_01 (15:09):
You have to show that's coming up with the FCC,
like those regulations, they'rethere, they've never been not
there.
SPEAKER_00 (15:15):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
Um, and so that's being actually now finally
looked at again with withregards to um ABC recently with
Jimmy Kimmel.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
As it should.
I mean, and it's crazy becauseyou know, for I say for those
who don't know, but like the forthe details, and again, if you
need to cut me off, cut me off.
Um, you know, back in the 60sand 70s, that was an implemented
rule.
That was a guideline that youhave to show both sides, and if
it's commentary, you have toexplicitly say, This is
commentary, this is opinion, sopeople can differentiate and
(15:46):
come to their own conclusions.
Well, sometime in the 70s it gotlifted.
It was still highly encouraged,but it wasn't like required.
SPEAKER_01 (15:54):
Well, now in the digital age, you jump into the
middle of things online.
Like if you jump into a YouTubeclip, but that's not the whole
thing.
SPEAKER_00 (16:02):
Right.
Well, then in 2011, they justbasically said, nah, it's not
important anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (16:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (16:06):
And so ever since then, it's like, you know, the
whole ethics of of news andethics of media has just
spiraled because it allowspeople to focus on one side of
the story, it allows people to,you know, mesh in their
commentary and their opinionswith the stories and to per be
perceived as, you know, asexperts and as fact.
(16:28):
Yeah.
And it, you know, obviously forme, uh, as someone who's studied
media and works in stuff everyday, I'm pretty good at
differentiating between what'sreal, what's AI, looking at it
with the critical eye.
But I mean, I I have familymembers and friends who can't
who don't and they can't.
Um, and that's that's morecommon than not.
And it's like not everybody,number one, has the, and I'm not
(16:50):
trying to be insulting, but noteverybody has the capability,
whether that's ability or justtime.
If you're just scrolling on yourphone, you don't have the
capability because you're justscrolling and you have to go
back to work in five minutes.
Um, but and it's also it'sgetting harder and harder to
tell.
And you know, it's it's one ofthose things that that's
something, and I know you saidABC is reconsidering it, that's
(17:11):
something that really needs tobe put back.
Because then they're starting toget to where now, if you have an
AI generated thing on socials,you have to market.
If this is AI generated, doeseverybody follow it?
No, but it's getting to be moreof a standard practice.
Yeah, and the same thing needsto be done for other forms of
media, and that's well, they dothat you know in advertising.
SPEAKER_01 (17:31):
I mean, we've all seen the MPAA rating system for
video games, television shows,and movies.
We are all are very well exposedto that.
Um, we are not applying ratingsystems to the media, right?
Because news and entertainmentis a single category if you go
look it up online.
And I don't believe they shouldbe.
I think they are not.
(17:52):
They should be separate.
They should be separate.
And so there's that.
But in England, um, when doingan ad, there's several um
watermarked labels that go ontouh the ad to inform you of these
things.
So, for example, on YouTube, alot of YouTubers will break into
an ad or a sponsorship, andthere's no label or watermark
applied.
(18:12):
They do not even say this is anad, they weave it into the show.
So if I just start saying DoveSoap is great and you should
wear you should wash with DoveSoap and buy it now and click on
the show.
SPEAKER_00 (18:22):
I mean, I took a shower the other day with it.
Which I'm not.
Oh my god, no, I know, but oh mygosh, I showered with it this
morning and my skin's so soft.
I mean, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
And now you think like we're talking about dove
soap.
Like that's that's an ad that'swoven into the content and not
sponsored.
Yeah, not sponsored and notbroken up and says, uh, because
you know, let remember if forthose that do, you know, now a
word from our sponsor, you know,doesn't happen anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (18:47):
And there's always at the ad, I mean, it's gotten
either smaller to the point thatno one can read it or it's just
gone.
But there used to be copyunderneath of a video,
especially a political ad, thatwould say, you know, this is a
politically affiliated ad andhave all the Yeah, and those are
very important.
SPEAKER_01 (19:03):
I mean, there's there's case studies like on
Netflix.
Just watch Pepsi Where's My Jeton Netflix, and then you'll
understand like how importantthat is in advertising.
Um, there's a YouTuber outthere, Tom Scott, where he talks
about like ads in Englandbecause he's English and he does
short form videos.
He did for years, but heretired.
SPEAKER_00 (19:19):
You were telling me about this, and I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (19:21):
Yeah, yeah.
He's a guy, you'll you'll findhim.
He's an English guy that wearsred t-shirts and hoodies, and
that's kind of his thingwhenever he's doing a video.
Um, but he talks about a lotabout the behind the scenes
stuff, and he starts going intoads and he starts showing ads
and how England will emphasizethe ads intent and when it's an
ad and also the rating for theads.
I mean, there's a ton ofregulations on ads that display
(19:43):
on broadcast and on the internetover there.
So um we probably need to dothat to the news here.
Like there is on every website acategory that uh what we call a
blog post, but a publisher likethe New York Times, for example,
will put out an article.
It's a WordPress site, andtherefore it is driven by
categories of posts, just likeyour business website that you
(20:06):
got from us or anybody else.
It's the same engine.
Exactly.
So that category is calledopinion.
But if you look at a lot of theposts, that's at about a
nine-point font, meaning it'svery tiny.
And that's kind of on purpose,and that's very disingenuous, I
think.
SPEAKER_00 (20:23):
Exactly.
It really is.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
Yeah, so it doesn't really label it correctly for
the reader to understand.
Like we'll say it takes threeminutes to read it, and we'll
put the title of the sucker in30 or 48-point font, and a
subtitle and some bullet points,and all kinds of crap because
you don't want you know, toolong didn't read.
Right.
But we put the category of whatthe topic is or the intent of it
(20:45):
in nine-point font because wereally want to try to show this
off as like we're printingsomething factual.
SPEAKER_00 (20:51):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (20:51):
And I think that's disingenuous.
SPEAKER_00 (20:53):
Or even in video format, you know, you'll have
that's my gripe.
No, I'm right there with you,and I'm gonna take it not a step
further, but uh another exampleof it, you know, when you have
commentators on YouTube, TikTok,whatever, you know, when they're
talking about the main thingthat they're trying to do,
they'll use strong, powerfultones, and they will enunciate
(21:14):
and they will make sure thatthey get their point across on
what they're trying tocommunicate.
And the next thing, you know,anything about the opinions or
anything that could beconsidered unnecessary is super
super fast, and people can'tunderstand it.
And then they go right back totheir point.
Yeah, so then it it it becomesthat whole gibberish is you
know, well, wait a minute, noone's gonna listen to it because
no one's gonna understand it.
SPEAKER_01 (21:34):
It's because the editor needs you to slow down so
that he can spot the time stampsso that he can edit that out as
a clip.
SPEAKER_00 (21:39):
Right.
And he can edit that surprise,right?
Shocker, who would have guessed?
But people can that they'll dothat.
So then, not that they're well,sometimes they are intentionally
skewing how it comes across, butthat's what happens.
And people aren't, like yousaid, people aren't gonna read
the nine-point font.
People aren't gonna listen tothe 2x sped up version that says
(22:02):
this is what is opinionated.
SPEAKER_01 (22:04):
No, they're not.
I mean, it's no people justdon't have the the patience for
that anymore.
There's so much coming at them,all they have time is for a
clip, and uh you know they'reonly gonna watch the first 10
seconds max if it's engaging.
SPEAKER_00 (22:16):
If honestly, looking at stats, it's gonna be the
first three seconds.
SPEAKER_01 (22:19):
Yeah, it is.
It's gonna be like it's gonna belike around that.
I mean, it's so small.
SPEAKER_00 (22:23):
It is the three seconds.
I remember I was whenever I hadto pitch something for work, and
I was saying we need to do shortvideos and we need to keep
things concise.
Uh the statistic is threeseconds.
If it's engaging, ten max.
SPEAKER_01 (22:34):
Yeah, yeah.
So uh for this episode of theNerdbrand Podcast, I'm gonna
talk really fast.
You can go toNerdbrandAgency.com slash
podcast.
Uh it's just just go tonerdbrandagency.com and then
you'll find it.
Um, or you can just go to oursocial media.
We uh I post on it on mychannels a lot, and um, we're
gonna have like you'll find theartwork.
I mean, there's a method to themadness, you know where it's at.
Yeah, everybody's exhausted,everybody needs a nap.
(22:55):
Speaking so, anyways, if that'sthe case, remember keep doing
what you're doing.
Don't take your eye off theball, focus on things that are
important.
Things that are not important,this too shall pass.
So we'll see you next week.
Keep your nerve brain strong.
Anyways, welcome to this episode of the Nerdbrand
Podcast where contentgatekeepers, how has it changed?
SPEAKER_00 (00:30):
Um Yeah, it's just it I'm at the point that I've
been dealing with my endojourney for so long.
It is what it is.
If it's too much, tell me.
But otherwise, I've just it'sit's a good idea.
SPEAKER_01 (00:44):
Your reaction to your reaction to it and how
you've been handling thesituation over the past six
months has been, you know, Imean, you get you should you
should get a lot of credit forit.
It really has been impressive.
SPEAKER_00 (00:54):
It it's been a lot, and I will not lie.
And you know, this is somethingwe can cut later, but a
potential podcast idea I thinkwould be cool is how do small
businesses especially recoverwhen you have a health emergency
or have something go on and youhave to step back.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
We've had three in Nerdbrand in five years.
SPEAKER_00 (01:14):
But then when you come back in, it's like, how do
you get back into that swing?
Because life happens toeverybody.
Oh, yeah.
That would almost be kind of acool, like, you know, because no
one talks about that.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
Yeah, business coaches try to talk about it,
but I think they offer verycanned responses that just isn't
a fit, obviously, for everybody.
And that's that'sunderstandable.
But yeah, there is a bit of astrategy you have to implement
for recovery, but not everybusiness can do it.
Sometimes you just kind of haveto barrel through and do that.
Uh so yeah, let's talk aboutlike the news cycle rush to
(01:47):
judgment.
Because this has gotten to bereally bad, honestly.
Uh media outlets, they're just Ithere's always been this thing
where you gotta be the first toprint, the first to tell about
it, or whatever.
And um, but even then, and youknow, it was like you gotta make
sure you got it right becausethey were very well aware, if
they put it in print, theimplications of a lawsuit that
(02:07):
could happen.
It seems like now that's justnot even there, which has caused
an erosion of trust, and it'sjust where narrative trump facts
now.
Um be careful saying that word.
Yeah.
But so and the internet hasaccelerated this.
So once the story's out, evenit's wrong, everybody just
thinks it's true.
They don't really try to followup research.
(02:27):
It's not gonna happen.
Whatever outlet that gets therefirst and says the thing, they
kind of understand they'reestablishing in the narrative.
And that is very dangerous thatwe're in right now.
SPEAKER_00 (02:36):
It really is.
And it's it's crazy that, youknow, and this is something I
can go on a tangent aboutbecause we had to study this
when I got my master's indigital media, how information
spreads, and how, you know, thiswas back in 2018, 2019 when I
was getting my master's degree.
How, you know, there were therewould be theories or fears that,
(02:57):
hey, as technology expands, youknow, you know, I know Donald
Trump coined the term fake news,and in 2017, 2018, everybody
made fun of it.
SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
Well, here's the funny thing.
He actually didn't.
It was actually a CNN reporter.
SPEAKER_00 (03:11):
Oh, was it?
SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
And he turned it around and said, No, you're fake
news.
SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
Uh but you know, regardless, the perception is
that he's known for that.
Um good to know though.
Um, but like, but nowadays it'slike, okay, that is true.
And I'm not being like, oh, I'mmaking a Donald Trump reference,
but it's true.
Like, there's so much that goesout there.
And because technology hasexpanded and grown so much that
(03:39):
everyone has it, it's so easy toseem legit.
SPEAKER_01 (03:45):
Oh, yeah.
Everybody like I've seen so manyYouTubers now that they're
coming on now and they arereporting news as if they're
newscasters.
Right.
And and that's understandable.
I mean, that's sort of wherethings are going.
SPEAKER_00 (03:56):
Well, and then what they're doing is they're mixing
in their reactions or theiropinions with it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:01):
Yeah, it's commentary, it's not reporting.
SPEAKER_00 (04:03):
Exactly.
And so they're crossing thoselines, pitching it as this is
news, this is informational, butthen they're throwing in
commentary, and it's like, okay,where it for most people you can
see the difference, but forenough people, it's like, where
do we distinguish that this isfact and this is opinion?
SPEAKER_01 (04:23):
And a lot of that I think comes out of the video.
Like everybody now has a videocamera in their pocket and are
able to record or has amicrophone.
SPEAKER_00 (04:30):
I mean audio, like voice notes.
SPEAKER_01 (04:33):
There's there's on Twitter, there are people right
now that are on the ground thatare reporting stories and doing
journalism and trying to followalong and actually do it the
right way.
And uh, I've been watching someof them and how they do it, and
they are brave as hell for whatthey're doing, considering
what's going on on the uh WestCoast.
And so the legacy media isthey've lost their monopoly on
(04:56):
this.
Um, they just have.
But you know, the funny thing isfor years, the media would pay
those to do this withprofessional cameras for years.
People have forgotten this orthey just didn't know about it.
But especially in the age postum OJ Simpson running from the
law and the Bronco, the peoplethat have a camera and have the
(05:17):
means, a video productioncompany, to get on site to get
the photo, to get the video,then would sell that to the
press to air on their televisionstories and screens has always
been a thing.
We would see even even withSpider-Man, that's literally
what Peter Parker did for thenewspaper he worked for.
And so at the end of the day,it's like that still kind of
exists, but now what I see haspivoted and get your thoughts on
(05:42):
this.
Now those people not aren'tnecessarily selling the content,
they're just airing it on theirown channels and monetizing it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:49):
Exactly.
And then it gets to a pointwhere you know, some paparazzi
shooter or somebody who is, youknow, posting a video, for them,
it's not just, oh, I'm gonnasell this and you know, people
can use it for their news thing.
It's I'm gonna post it on myaccount and give me credit so
that I'm associated and I makethe money.
(06:10):
Yeah, it's no longer just oh,I'm gonna sell this exclusively
to CBS and they can use it and Iget royalties, blah, blah, blah.
It's it's shifting.
And the thing that drives mecrazy.
I was actually talking to myboyfriend about this the other
day.
Um, I'm gonna go off on asoapbox, but it's relevant.
I promise.
This is gonna be a podcast wherey'all are probably gonna hear me
(06:31):
talk more than Jason, and Iapologize in advance.
This is your warning now.
Um the thing that gets me is theevolution of technology is
beautiful, it's phenomenal.
Yeah, everyone can have accessto decent quality things so you
can have good cameras for takingpictures with your family, for
shooting videos of those specialmoments, um, and you know, to
(06:53):
have editing things so that way,like if you want to make things
look cool with AI, if you wantto, you know, there's a trend
going on right now where you canupload a picture of two people
and then it generates themhugging each other in a
Polaroid.
I can't tell you how many peopleare doing that with you know
their bodies and like with themand then their mother who's
past.
(07:13):
So then it generates a a decentlooking Polaroid of you know, oh
my gosh, I'm hugging my deadrelative.
Or they're doing it where, youknow, your current self is
hugging your past self.
SPEAKER_01 (07:24):
Yeah, God, this is totally turned into like the
black, uh what the dark blackmirror.
SPEAKER_00 (07:29):
Black mirror, yeah.
But it's it it's cool conceptslike that.
So because technology is outthere and able to do those
things, there are ways that itcan be used and it can be
utilized that is so beautiful.
And being in media, I love it.
That being said, it is also oneof the biggest curses and one of
the things I hate the mostbecause now everyone and their
(07:49):
mother has an iPhone, and youknow, the iPhones are great now,
and even you know, other phones.
I'm just using an iPhone becausethat's what I have.
They have great cameras and theyhave great quality stuff, so it
can they can use that to shootvideos, to record themselves,
they can buy a microphone onAmazon, and next thing you know,
you're a podcaster.
Right.
You can get some apps and someediting subscriptions on your
(08:10):
phone, and then next thing youknow, you're a videographer or
you're a video.
Yeah, yeah, you're an editor.
Um, you know, you can make aTikTok and then one video goes
viral.
Next thing you know, you're asensation and you're famous.
And you know, while there'svalidity to that to an extent,
people don't always understandthat that's not always legit.
(08:32):
It's great to have as like astarting point, or as you're
growing in an industry, or ifyou're just doing something
quick like a social media reel.
Okay, yeah, having all those onyour phone, that's great.
Using a care uh audio on yourphone, that's great.
Getting a cheap microphone justto get started, cool.
Yeah.
But all of a sudden, noweveryone can be a podcaster, now
everyone can be an influencer,now everybody can post this and
(08:53):
that, now everybody can create awebsite and start drop shipping
things from Amazon, and nowthey're a business owner.
SPEAKER_01 (08:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:59):
And it gets to a point where because everyone has
access to it, it's so difficultnow to figure out okay, who's
legit?
Who has an LLC, who is sellingthe thing.
Yeah, who is going to a sceneand providing uh journalism in
an ethical way?
Who is filming something and notediting it to make it look real
(09:21):
and using AI for its evil.
SPEAKER_01 (09:24):
Um, and I would all I would offer advice to help
people filter this.
SPEAKER_00 (09:27):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:27):
It's really simple.
It is because I was taught thisa long time ago.
Two two things.
One, um, always ask what givesthat person authority to know
what it is that they're tellingyou.
Right.
Like what what makes them theauthority?
Okay.
Yeah, absolutely.
The second thing is start stoptrying to figure out the truth,
start to figure out what's theagenda.
Right.
So in masters, like I wentthrough theology.
(09:50):
And so in your undergraduate inthose courses, you read the book
that they wrote, and you write areport, and then you give a
presentation on the ideal.
But then when you get to themaster's class, you're reading
the same book again.
Now you think, like, why?
SPEAKER_00 (10:06):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (10:06):
Well, because now you're reading it because you're
now asked what was going throughthe author's mind when they
wrote it?
What was going on in their life?
This perspective has changed.
What was the agenda to write thebook?
SPEAKER_00 (10:18):
Exactly.
And we had the same thing withwith you know, my comm undergrad
and digital media mediagraduate.
But, you know, not a lot ofpeople have that.
SPEAKER_01 (10:28):
It's critical thinking.
It really does exercise that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:30):
We literally had a class called critical thinking.
I'm not joking.
It was like COM 301 or COM 302.
It was critical thinking.
Um, for all the people who wentto Bellerman, that should
trigger a little bit of PTSD.
Um that being said though, tome, that's a Tuesday, right?
Um but it's it's crazy that nota lot of people have that.
(10:53):
So, you know, when you havecases that, you know, a big
breaking story happens, and thenyou have 20 people on Twitter
posting different things aboutthe scenario.
Well, if you went viral for somevideo you made, it can be
related to news or not.
Yeah.
If if you're famous, quoteunquote, then oh, you're
(11:14):
reliable.
Or it's the first thing I saw,so it has to be true.
And because back in the day, ifyou were published, it was
reputable.
Nowadays anybody can publishanything.
So, oh, it's published, it's onthis, it must be legit.
And then you have professionalnews sources who you know, in
the rush, like you said in theintro, it's about being first,
(11:37):
not being accurate.
So then you've got news sourceswho are like, oh, we just
received word that somebodyposted or somebody sent in this
video.
They're Twitter reporters aswell.
Yeah, and they're exactly andthey're not validating, okay, is
this real footage?
Because you can run it through ascanner and tell, okay, is this
AI generated?
Yeah, they're not doing that.
They're just okay, here's thisvideo that somebody told shared
(11:58):
with us.
This is fact, this is real.
SPEAKER_01 (12:00):
The legacy media can survive this shift.
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
Oh, they can.
SPEAKER_01 (12:04):
They need to pivot from being first to accuracy,
back to what it used to be.
Yeah, because they're not, Imean, the clarification that
comes from uh the White House orfrom a YouTuber or whatever,
right, is usually about twodays, three days after whatever
happens.
And then you go, yeah, becausetime, you need time for that to
clarify.
(12:24):
But the media's already moved onto the next thing that just
happened that somebody tweetedabout, and that's the issue.
They need to really slow downand they need to start focusing
on like you viewers need tofocus on what's the agenda
behind this, right?
Not trying to figure out thetruth.
What's the agenda?
Because you you you'll spot itquickly, and then that'll lead
you to whether or not if it'sreal or true.
SPEAKER_00 (12:44):
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01 (12:45):
But the media themselves, the way that they
can stop the spiraling, and I'mtalking about legacy media, is
is focusing on accuracy,sticking to the facts.
If you watch a YouTube channelon any media outlet, they post
the title of the video and thenyou watch the video.
They actually don't get to thepoint of the video until like
four minutes in, and it's afive-minute video.
Exactly.
And it irritates the hell out ofme.
(13:06):
On like Fox News, I'll criticizethem.
They're they're notorious forthis.
Oh, yeah.
ABC and everybody, they kind oftalk about like the facts in the
first 30 seconds, and then thenext three minutes is bashing
Trump.
And I'm just like, I don't wantto hear about bashing Trump.
SPEAKER_00 (13:19):
Or it's just commentary on what they
reported.
SPEAKER_01 (13:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I get that you don't like whathe said and he sounded like an
idiot, and da-da-da-da-da,whatever your opinion is,
whatever.
I want to know what happened.
ABC done.
And because I will make thatjudgment as a rational human
being on what what's going on.
Like we still have incursionsinto NATO airspace occurring by
Russia.
Okay, and they do it in adifferent way because I remember
(13:43):
growing up in the 80s and the90s and what went on.
And so I'm looking at this andI'm like, I know how this is
gonna play out um because I'veseen this before.
SPEAKER_00 (13:51):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
You know, that's the benefit of my age um and and
living through those times.
Uh, I didn't view those times ascrazy.
I thought maybe at the time theywere, but I can tell you that,
you know, the things that BillClinton did in the office with
his intern was not A, shocking,right, and B a downfall to
(14:12):
society.
SPEAKER_00 (14:14):
Yeah.
I mean, it's sad because likeobviously that doesn't condone
what he did.
No, it doesn't.
If anything, you know, back inthat time it's shocking because
you didn't see that stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (14:24):
That wasn't but the morality play that came about
from that was rare is what youkind of see now flipping to the
other side.
SPEAKER_00 (14:30):
Exactly.
It kind of was like morality wasimportant and there were ethics,
but then sometime in the 2010sit died.
Yeah, and now people are tryingto come back to it, and people
are trying to focus on the whyand focus on the empathy, and
that's great, but it could beweaponized, it really can,
especially bingo, especiallywith how with technology, with
(14:51):
AI, and all those things.
Um, one of the things I sent toyou, and I don't have my
computer in front of me, so youmight have to interject with the
notes, um, is the Fairness Act.
You know, that was a big thingthat you know when media was
made, it was you have to pitchboth sides.
SPEAKER_01 (15:09):
You have to show that's coming up with the FCC,
like those regulations, they'rethere, they've never been not
there.
SPEAKER_00 (15:15):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
Um, and so that's being actually now finally
looked at again with withregards to um ABC recently with
Jimmy Kimmel.
SPEAKER_00 (15:23):
As it should.
I mean, and it's crazy becauseyou know, for I say for those
who don't know, but like the forthe details, and again, if you
need to cut me off, cut me off.
Um, you know, back in the 60sand 70s, that was an implemented
rule.
That was a guideline that youhave to show both sides, and if
it's commentary, you have toexplicitly say, This is
commentary, this is opinion, sopeople can differentiate and
(15:46):
come to their own conclusions.
Well, sometime in the 70s it gotlifted.
It was still highly encouraged,but it wasn't like required.
SPEAKER_01 (15:54):
Well, now in the digital age, you jump into the
middle of things online.
Like if you jump into a YouTubeclip, but that's not the whole
thing.
SPEAKER_00 (16:02):
Right.
Well, then in 2011, they justbasically said, nah, it's not
important anymore.
SPEAKER_01 (16:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (16:06):
And so ever since then, it's like, you know, the
whole ethics of of news andethics of media has just
spiraled because it allowspeople to focus on one side of
the story, it allows people to,you know, mesh in their
commentary and their opinionswith the stories and to per be
perceived as, you know, asexperts and as fact.
(16:28):
Yeah.
And it, you know, obviously forme, uh, as someone who's studied
media and works in stuff everyday, I'm pretty good at
differentiating between what'sreal, what's AI, looking at it
with the critical eye.
But I mean, I I have familymembers and friends who can't
who don't and they can't.
Um, and that's that's morecommon than not.
And it's like not everybody,number one, has the, and I'm not
(16:50):
trying to be insulting, but noteverybody has the capability,
whether that's ability or justtime.
If you're just scrolling on yourphone, you don't have the
capability because you're justscrolling and you have to go
back to work in five minutes.
Um, but and it's also it'sgetting harder and harder to
tell.
And you know, it's it's one ofthose things that that's
something, and I know you saidABC is reconsidering it, that's
(17:11):
something that really needs tobe put back.
Because then they're starting toget to where now, if you have an
AI generated thing on socials,you have to market.
If this is AI generated, doeseverybody follow it?
No, but it's getting to be moreof a standard practice.
Yeah, and the same thing needsto be done for other forms of
media, and that's well, they dothat you know in advertising.
SPEAKER_01 (17:31):
I mean, we've all seen the MPAA rating system for
video games, television shows,and movies.
We are all are very well exposedto that.
Um, we are not applying ratingsystems to the media, right?
Because news and entertainmentis a single category if you go
look it up online.
And I don't believe they shouldbe.
I think they are not.
(17:52):
They should be separate.
They should be separate.
And so there's that.
But in England, um, when doingan ad, there's several um
watermarked labels that go ontouh the ad to inform you of these
things.
So, for example, on YouTube, alot of YouTubers will break into
an ad or a sponsorship, andthere's no label or watermark
applied.
(18:12):
They do not even say this is anad, they weave it into the show.
So if I just start saying DoveSoap is great and you should
wear you should wash with DoveSoap and buy it now and click on
the show.
SPEAKER_00 (18:22):
I mean, I took a shower the other day with it.
Which I'm not.
Oh my god, no, I know, but oh mygosh, I showered with it this
morning and my skin's so soft.
I mean, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
And now you think like we're talking about dove
soap.
Like that's that's an ad that'swoven into the content and not
sponsored.
Yeah, not sponsored and notbroken up and says, uh, because
you know, let remember if forthose that do, you know, now a
word from our sponsor, you know,doesn't happen anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (18:47):
And there's always at the ad, I mean, it's gotten
either smaller to the point thatno one can read it or it's just
gone.
But there used to be copyunderneath of a video,
especially a political ad, thatwould say, you know, this is a
politically affiliated ad andhave all the Yeah, and those are
very important.
SPEAKER_01 (19:03):
I mean, there's there's case studies like on
Netflix.
Just watch Pepsi Where's My Jeton Netflix, and then you'll
understand like how importantthat is in advertising.
Um, there's a YouTuber outthere, Tom Scott, where he talks
about like ads in Englandbecause he's English and he does
short form videos.
He did for years, but heretired.
SPEAKER_00 (19:19):
You were telling me about this, and I love it.
SPEAKER_01 (19:21):
Yeah, yeah.
He's a guy, you'll you'll findhim.
He's an English guy that wearsred t-shirts and hoodies, and
that's kind of his thingwhenever he's doing a video.
Um, but he talks about a lotabout the behind the scenes
stuff, and he starts going intoads and he starts showing ads
and how England will emphasizethe ads intent and when it's an
ad and also the rating for theads.
I mean, there's a ton ofregulations on ads that display
(19:43):
on broadcast and on the internetover there.
So um we probably need to dothat to the news here.
Like there is on every website acategory that uh what we call a
blog post, but a publisher likethe New York Times, for example,
will put out an article.
It's a WordPress site, andtherefore it is driven by
categories of posts, just likeyour business website that you
(20:06):
got from us or anybody else.
It's the same engine.
Exactly.
So that category is calledopinion.
But if you look at a lot of theposts, that's at about a
nine-point font, meaning it'svery tiny.
And that's kind of on purpose,and that's very disingenuous, I
think.
SPEAKER_00 (20:23):
Exactly.
It really is.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
Yeah, so it doesn't really label it correctly for
the reader to understand.
Like we'll say it takes threeminutes to read it, and we'll
put the title of the sucker in30 or 48-point font, and a
subtitle and some bullet points,and all kinds of crap because
you don't want you know, toolong didn't read.
Right.
But we put the category of whatthe topic is or the intent of it
(20:45):
in nine-point font because wereally want to try to show this
off as like we're printingsomething factual.
SPEAKER_00 (20:51):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (20:51):
And I think that's disingenuous.
SPEAKER_00 (20:53):
Or even in video format, you know, you'll have
that's my gripe.
No, I'm right there with you,and I'm gonna take it not a step
further, but uh another exampleof it, you know, when you have
commentators on YouTube, TikTok,whatever, you know, when they're
talking about the main thingthat they're trying to do,
they'll use strong, powerfultones, and they will enunciate
(21:14):
and they will make sure thatthey get their point across on
what they're trying tocommunicate.
And the next thing, you know,anything about the opinions or
anything that could beconsidered unnecessary is super
super fast, and people can'tunderstand it.
And then they go right back totheir point.
Yeah, so then it it it becomesthat whole gibberish is you
know, well, wait a minute, noone's gonna listen to it because
no one's gonna understand it.
SPEAKER_01 (21:34):
It's because the editor needs you to slow down so
that he can spot the time stampsso that he can edit that out as
a clip.
SPEAKER_00 (21:39):
Right.
And he can edit that surprise,right?
Shocker, who would have guessed?
But people can that they'll dothat.
So then, not that they're well,sometimes they are intentionally
skewing how it comes across, butthat's what happens.
And people aren't, like yousaid, people aren't gonna read
the nine-point font.
People aren't gonna listen tothe 2x sped up version that says
(22:02):
this is what is opinionated.
SPEAKER_01 (22:04):
No, they're not.
I mean, it's no people justdon't have the the patience for
that anymore.
There's so much coming at them,all they have time is for a
clip, and uh you know they'reonly gonna watch the first 10
seconds max if it's engaging.
SPEAKER_00 (22:16):
If honestly, looking at stats, it's gonna be the
first three seconds.
SPEAKER_01 (22:19):
Yeah, it is.
It's gonna be like it's gonna belike around that.
I mean, it's so small.
SPEAKER_00 (22:23):
It is the three seconds.
I remember I was whenever I hadto pitch something for work, and
I was saying we need to do shortvideos and we need to keep
things concise.
Uh the statistic is threeseconds.
If it's engaging, ten max.
SPEAKER_01 (22:34):
Yeah, yeah.
So uh for this episode of theNerdbrand Podcast, I'm gonna
talk really fast.
You can go toNerdbrandAgency.com slash
podcast.
Uh it's just just go tonerdbrandagency.com and then
you'll find it.
Um, or you can just go to oursocial media.
We uh I post on it on mychannels a lot, and um, we're
gonna have like you'll find theartwork.
I mean, there's a method to themadness, you know where it's at.
Yeah, everybody's exhausted,everybody needs a nap.
(22:55):
Speaking so, anyways, if that'sthe case, remember keep doing
what you're doing.
Don't take your eye off theball, focus on things that are
important.
Things that are not important,this too shall pass.
So we'll see you next week.
Keep your nerve brain strong.
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Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.