Substack launched its own talkshow.
It's about independent media founders. Obviously.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I just got back to New York after spending last night in Washington, D.C. I invited a bunch of readers to the Punchbowl News townhouse. Attendees ranged from young government staffers and lawyers, to finance employees, to Vanity Fair’s Washington correspondent Aidan McLaughlin.
The conversations were strikingly, maybe disappointingly, similar to the conversations in any media-adjacent room in New York — the parents talked about where to find good schools, the finance guys talked about where to find good Guinness pours (slim pickings, apparently), and the defense tech people asked about how they can encourage their comms teams to reach writers like me. There was a surprising amount of 2011 nostalgia, but for the promise of the Obama years and THIS picture (aged beautifully), instead of Girls and VICE and good media jobs.
They also have an Australian invasion, but the Australians hang at MAGA bars instead of Williamsburg.
The Obama thing, the feeling of having missed “the good times” in the city, is very poignant. In 2026, D.C. has TMZ, mass layoffs in the State Department, and as one of my local readers informed me this morning, a serious dip in restaurant and grocery spending. Journalists now need a chaperone to enter The Pentagon and freedom of the press is under threat.
But still, reporters gather for drinks, and Punchbowl and other outlets are doing good work to keep us informed. Thanks to Jake and the team for having me.
Today’s newsletter includes: The current state of FWB Fest, Brooklyn might be getting another members’ club, and The Paris Review breaks into a new merch category.
New roles on the Feed Me Job Board this week:
• Social Media manager at Oscar Isaac’s Mad Gene Media
• Sales Associate at Prounis
• YouTube producer at Smooth Media
59% of Harvard youth say that the country “feels off track.”
The New York Times announced this morning that they have surpassed 13 million subscribers. They added 310,000 digital-only subscribers in the first quarter of 2026. Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said the results reflected “strong demand for the uncompromised journalism and premium lifestyle content.”
