What I'm Reading: Puck News
The media landscape has shifted in the internet era, leading to many smaller, high quality outlets that can tailor their content to niche audiences without compromising.
A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon the writings of William Cohan, a former investment banker, and whisperer of Wall Street. While I am not an investor, I do work in corporate America, and I found Cohan’s writing to be on point, insightful, and packed with tidbits that you just can’t get without a costly Bloomberg News subscription (their terminal service is $$$$$).
I was bummed when his newsletters were swept up in the then new offering Puck News.
Around the same time, there was also insightful reporting on all things Russia and eastern European by Julia Ioffe. I think you know where I am going with this.
Alas, she also was part of the founding of Puck News. The fact that they had snacked up on two of my favorite reporters made it stupid simple to mash the buy button on a subscription.
To this day, Bill Cohan’s “Dry Powder” continues to provide biting commentary on big finance, and I especially appreciate his insights into the Musk/Twitter deal, no nonsense analyses that resonate and feel accurate. Further, he talks in a way that non-MBA’s and finance geeks can relate. That is a gift.
Julia Ioffe remains the premier source on all things Russia and the Ukrainian war. Her long time in the field, her deep understanding, and her ability to unravel the intricacies and make them approachable without hysterics is laudable. Frankly, my other daily read, The Bulwark whiffed when they brought Cathy Young1 under their broadsheet, and they missed their opportunity to land Ioffe.
One feature that took me a long time to even check out is a 5 day a week podcast “The Powers that Be.” Each episode has two roughly 10-minute segments, and they bring their talent in regularly to comment colloquially on the news of the day, giving insights that are difficult to tease out in the column inches allotted. They are great to listen to while I am walking my dog in the morning!
The one surprise from my subscription is their deep coverage of media, particularly the recent turmoil at CNN. Peter Hamby and the team do a bang up job, and I highly recommend a subscription.
Want to give it a try? There is a promotion that will get you a 30% discount, just use the code “INSIDEACCESS”
A recent comment on a Bulwark post posited that Cathy had been dropped on her head as a baby. A bit harsh, but I can see why it was made. Her time at Reason Magazine makes her the queen of both-sides, digging deep to try to conflate minor idiocy on the left with the sucking chest wound that is the American right. It infuriates me, and as such, I have even stopped reading her writings on Russia, where she grew up before leaving in 1992. But I digress …
Thank you for the recommendation. Julia Ioffe led me to Puck News, but at that time I'd already subscribed to The Bulwark. What with JVL jumping repeatedly on my last good nerve there, I've been interested in moving on, but unsure where to go.
Re Cathy: even during my libertarian phase, I found her insufferable. Megan McArdle too, while I'm being bitchy.