On the Lean Out podcast this year, we’ve talked a lot about the failings of the mainstream media, and the reasons why the press has lost the public’s trust.

But for the month of December, we’ll be focusing on one of the bright spots of the media landscape — and that is the independent press. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be speaking with some of the journalists that I most admire, who are doing fantastic work, at Substack and elsewhere.

We kick off this series today with Leighton Woodhouse. He’s an independent journalist and documentary filmmaker in Oakland, California. His Substack is called Social Studies. (This episode was recorded last week, before the Twitter Files revelations.)

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com