Defecting to Substack

Independent journalism can replace traditional journalism

Milan’s St Ambrose Cathedral, photo by yours truly

Milan is a husk of its former self. When I came back the city where I had grown up, after living in the U.S. for a year, I went through a reversed culture shock, one that many Italians who had also returned after an experience abroad shared with me. I felt like I was back to a small province of an Empire, where opportunities were fewer, and the prospects for growth, whether personal or professional, far dimmer.

It didn’t help that Milan is an urban city known for being the least beautiful in Italy, surrounded by concrete pavements with grey buildings and foggy, polluted air. But there is something romantic and enchanting about Milan’s urban ugliness that I learned to appreciate. It’s the Roman city of Mediolanum, where old pagan temples with Roman columns still stand, transformed into Catholic Churches. Love graffiti are spray painted in front of schools, fashion brands showcase their eccentric design. There’s a mixture of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance Cathedrals, modernist and industrial buildings, a few skyscrapers, and a cultural attitude being somewhere between Italy and Germany; a Nordic and Mediterranean synthesis.

I found my community again; I saw my family and friends after years of being away isolated because of the pandemic. I felt connected to deeper roots by going to mass at the Basilica of St. Ambrose, walking through the same steps and walls where Emperor Theodosius was denied communion by Archbishop Saint Ambrose for the Massacre of Thessalonica in Greece. I had a sense of security, familiarity and connectedness that I realised I had taken for granted in America.

But the U.S. has other upsides, the most notable being its relentless energy. The chaos, while overwhelming at times, is also invigorating. Western European culture is now underwhelming, especially during the pandemic. Italy’s stringent restrictions have created a climate of distrust, fear and anxiety among the general populace. The ruling, bureaucratic elites have become more entrenched in their power to dictate unpopular laws.

When I returned home it dawned on me, after many experiences abroad and working for a number of different papers, from the Arab world, where I first started reporting, to Europe, and finally America, that I should stabilise and evolve into something I can call my own.

I was averse to creating my own channel because, as Joseph Rago, a Pulizer-Prize winning journalist after whom I had received a fellowship, said in a piece called “The Blog Mob”:

“The bloggers, for their part, produce minimal reportage. Instead, they ride along with the MSM like remora fish on the bellies of sharks, picking at the scraps.”

I agreed with this statement when I read it, so much that I quoted him during my speech when I received the award. I explained why I was trying to find my way into traditional journalism, at the few papers remaining that allowed some flexibility and diversity in thought, in that case, The Wall Street Journal, where I was working as a fellow.

While I still agree with this statement, I also believe that independent journalism can be done responsibly, and with the same editorial discretion and empirical commitment that most mainstream newspapers have now lost. In other words, online and independent journalism can be a counterweight to a largely decadent press, offering authenticity through a form of autonomy that is directly dependent on one’s readership, rather than higher powers.  

In The New Criterion, Joseph Rago reviewed his piece, expressing “regret” for his earlier lack of nuance on the misgivings of independent journalism:

“A phenomenon as large and as varied as “online journalism” deserved a more mature treatment and its vastness and variousness resist large, definitive claims . . . In that respect ‘The Blog Mob’ participated in the trends it decried.”

I also had to stop, and take some time to reflect on the direction that my work was taking. I’d like to start writing without an editor who will filter my views, for better or worse. I still intend to do freelance journalism for other outlets on topics that I believe would do a better service by being published in particular newspapers, but I’d like to dedicate a page to some unfiltered journalism, thoughts and ideas here on Substack.

For now at least, the newsletter will be made without a paywall. I look forward to hearing your feedback.