[sangnoir]

> You hold them accountable by not paying them if you don't like their reporting.

This means the journalists are now beholden to the class of people who pay substackers; I suspect the feedback loop is much tighter (lose subscribers soon after publishing an article that speaks truth-to-the-new-power). This also encourages echo-chambers - writers will learn to know what their readers like and will stick to it: their income literally depends on it!

[refurb]

How is that different than what happens with major papers now?

At least the choice is the reader’s, the feedback is immediate and the start-up costs low.

[sangnoir]

We are in violent agreement - only that I think society is worse-off for the tighter coupling between readers biases and the echo-chambers they obtain news.