Everyone’s mad at everyone about Polymarket
Media Gossip covers industry events including the Status Summit and a Poynter salon, with a major controversy emerging over Substack's Emmy live chat sponsorship by Polymarket, which prompted writers to distance themselves from the event.
Summary
This week's Media Gossip newsletter covers several media industry happenings. The author attended part of the inaugural Status Summit, observing conversations between Don Lemon, Mehdi Hasan, and Oliver Darcy about independent media. A key observation was the dismissal by figures like Brian Williams and Jonathan Wald of young people's engagement with news events, when in fact young audiences do engage with big news moments—just through livestreams with modern anchors like Hasan Piker rather than traditional TV broadcasts. The author cites watching Zohran Mamdani win the NYC mayoral election on livestream as an example of this shift. Meanwhile, the author attended a Poynter salon honoring Atlantic CEO Nicholas Thompson and Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell, where a feisty conversation touched on AI, with Thompson suggesting AI is unlikely to cause human extinction but has high probability of creating disasters like stock market crashes. The major story of the week involves Substack's upcoming Emmys live chat, which is being sponsored by Polymarket (a prediction market platform). This sponsorship sparked controversy, with newsletter writer Emilia Petrarca notably announcing she would no longer accept sponsorships or affiliate links. Multiple writers participating in the event are distancing themselves from the Polymarket association. Embedded was itself offered a paid promotion for this event but declined. The controversy appears to center on concerns about Polymarket's association or legitimacy.
About this episode
Plus: Notes from the Status Summit, some New York Times lore, and a new freelancer scam.
Key Insights
- Older media figures like Brian Williams misdiagnose young people's disengagement with news as a complete lack of interest, when young audiences are actually consuming major news events through livestream platforms with modern anchors like Hasan Piker.
- Nicholas Thompson argued that AI is unlikely to cause human extinction but carries a significant probability of creating major economic disasters such as stock market crashes.
- Emilia Petrarca's announcement to stop accepting sponsorships and affiliate links proved prescient timing, as it preceded major industry controversy over Polymarket sponsorships that week.
- Multiple writers are actively distancing themselves from Polymarket despite being participants in Substack's Emmy live chat event, suggesting significant reputational concerns about the platform.
- Substack's approach to the Polymarket sponsorship—framing it as simply 'a dedicated live space' to promotion-eligible media partners—appears to have obscured or downplayed the controversial nature of the partnership.
Topics
Transcript
Welcome to media_gossip, Embedded’s special weekly edition of … media gossip, sent every Friday. You’re getting this because you subscribe to Embedded, but you can opt out here . I’ll be joining Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick and Ben Dietz for a live recording of Hip Replacement on September 17th at 7pm at The Ace Hotel in Brooklyn! RSVP here (it’s free!) — Kate Nick’s Riff This Week How men’s style media lost its way : “Blackbird Spyplane was a direct challenge to the formless style advice coming out of men’s magazines. But the Blackbird Spyplane ideal wasn’t exactly accessible, or meant to be.” Plus : The weird thing my roommate did on 9/11: A view from Brooklyn’s creative underclass. me two…
Full transcript available for MurmurCast members
Sign Up to AccessMore from Embedded
This media_gossip has been redacted
Episode 75 of Hip Replacement features Kate Lindsay discussing her relationship with The Sims and gaming habits, while the episode also covers Patreon's user exodus, the New York Times Amy Griffin piece, and a lesbian bar's role in journalism.
My Internet: Steven Hyden
Steven Hyden, music critic and author of a book about The Strokes, discusses his media consumption habits, skepticism toward AI and gambling apps, and his theory that public shit-talking has migrated from social media to private group chats. He emphasizes the importance of struggle in creative work and expresses concerns about the decline of traditional institutional media.
AI doesn’t ‘go rogue.’ Humans do
The author argues that humans anthropomorphize AI systems, projecting human qualities onto them through examples like Anthropic's Opus 3 blog and an AI actress named Tilly Norwood. This tendency to treat AI as sentient entities is being exploited by both media and AI fear-mongers to create false narratives about AI capabilities and risks.
The outlets doing free PR for AI
This media gossip newsletter covers Nick's personal experiences at events, an interview with writer Ross Barkan following plagiarism allegations, and criticism of journalists providing free publicity for an AI chatbot startup.
My Internet: Taylor Tomlinson
Comedian Taylor Tomlinson shares her selective approach to internet consumption, prioritizing long-form content like Substack and podcasts while limiting algorithmic social media to specific times. She emphasizes the importance of thoughtful digital boundaries and expresses concerns about AI and the challenges Gen Z faces growing up online.