Welcome to The Culture Journalist, a podcast about the wild west of culture, counterculture, and the media in the year 2020. Think of it as your guide to understanding the arts, politics, and the anxieties of everyday life through the lens of culture reporting—hosted by Emilie Friedlander and Andrea Domanick, two freelance journalists from opposite sides of the country.

Culture doesn't exist in a vacuum. There are the artists who create it, and then there are the people who help us find it, love it, and make meaning of it. If you've ever loved a song or a novel, how did you find out about it? That's where culture journalists come in—the critics, reporters, and storytellers who help parse the content on your feed, unearth stories, and take a first pass at history. 

We’re living history right now: Over the past few months, venues and movie theaters and record stores have shuttered across the country, leaving thousands of creative workers out of a job. Young people have been taking the streets in cities across the United States, demanding justice for victims of racist police violence and a more equitable future for all. Technology is producing sweeping shifts in the production and distribution of creative work, and the cultural conversation is evolving faster than we can keep up. 

But as publications fold and journalists are laid off in record numbers, it can feel like our little corner of the media industry is collapsing at the very moment when America needs it the most. So we started this podcast to spotlight the people that are helping us make sense of where culture and counterculture are going—and, in a way, since art is a reflection of life, where the world is going too.

On each episode of The Culture Journalist, we’ll be bringing you conversations with our favorite reporters and critics—as well as artists, academics, creatives, and organizers—about their lives, their work, and the stories that we can't stop thinking about. Be sure to stick around until the end, when we answer questions from listeners seeking advice or a second opinion on all things culture journalism-related—you can email us one, too. 

The Culture Journalist is an independent journalism project that relies on word-of-mouth and is entirely self-funded. To help us get this project off the ground and assist us in covering production, music, and labor costs, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For a small monthly contribution, you'll get access to episodes in full after the first two months, a shout-out on the podcast, and other bonus goodies. 

If you can’t chip in but like what you’re hearing, we hope you’ll tell a couple of friends about it. 

Talk soon,

Emilie and Andrea

Special thanks to Mark Donica of S U R V I V E for composing our theme music.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theculturejournalist.substack.com/subscribe