The Importance of Alternative Media in This Moment
As DemCast Co-Founder Nick Knudsen launches a new podcast / YouTube channel, he reflects on the road ahead.
The Digital Drumbeat is the largest publication solely dedicated to digital activism on the planet. Your subscriptions help support our efforts as we work to pierce those algorithmic bubbles that keep half the country brainwashed.
The New Pod is Up!
First of all, everyone PLEASE check out The Dangerous Ones podcast. This is a very intentional effort to create relatable, informative & entertaining content on platforms where millions of Americans get their news.
The best way to consume this show is on YouTube. My co-hosts Jim & Tiffany Drastic of Eleven Films are expert filmmakers, and we aim to set this show apart from other zoom-style podcasts with eye-popping visuals and even some occasional physical humor.
Subscribe to The Dangerous Ones YouTube channel, as it helps us grow and reach more people on a massively important platform!
The show is also available in audio format on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and elsewhere.
You can read more about the first episode and ALSO subscribe to The Dangerous Ones’ new Substack, The Teal & Orange Report here:
Reflections on Alternative Media
Back in 2018, when I was still employed in my prior career as a workforce development professional in Portland, Oregon, I was also working as a digital organizer.
I’d become very interested in how disinformation spreads on social media following Trump’s first victory. I saw the massive troll armies of regular people (and bots) across social media accounts that proactively spread Trump’s talking points 24/7/365. I quit my career and formed DemCast in 2019 to counter that army and organize the pro-democracy left.
But DemCast - as great as the model is and as much as I believe in its importance - can’t solve everything. We have our lane - and it’s an important one: diving into comment sections, engaging in social media rallies that pierce algorithms and reach apolitical social media users, posting online 24/7/365 just like the other side does…
But the deficit we face in the informationscape is much bigger than their troll army alone. From AM radio to cable news to podcasts to alternative news websites to social media influencers…we’re losing
We have to start addressing these deficits, while making content that is informative and relatable to a broader swath than just the politically obsessed.
That’s what we’re trying to do by launching The Dangerous Ones with Jim & Tiffany from Eleven Films.
And we, as a movement, need to support these types of efforts. And it’s important to understand how.
For instance, on YouTube, by having a certain number of views and subscribers, creators start to get to share in ad revenue, which can help keep their operations growing. I’ll tell you first hand, putting together a high-quality video program is both time consuming and expensive.
So - here is something YOU can do to help grow the left’s alternative media ecosystem:
Go to YouTube and create an account if you haven’t already. Start seeking out and subscribing to channels like The Dangerous Ones. We recommend our friends Jesse Dollemore and Brittany Page’s podcast I Doubt It, as well as their individual channels the Dollemore Daily and Page Perspective.
There is so much informative, left-leaning content out there, but it needs more eyeballs. Keep an eye out, and we will keep giving you a heads up about programs you might check out. Feel free to leave some suggestions in comments of YouTube content you enjoy.
The mainstream media isn’t going to help us this time. They are corporate-owned, and as we’ve seen from the tech bro CEOs, corporations are scared of battling Trump.
It’s up to us.
If you’re interested in learning how to create alternative media on YouTube, Substack, or any other platform, don’t hesitate to reach out!