By Steve KrakauerWhat does professional wrestling have to do with the politics and the media? Or how about the concept of “bait”? How about political hobbyism? Jane Coaston of Vox joins me for the third episode of The Fourth Watch Podcast, to talk about this and more – including her work at media publications from the right and the left. Listen to the interview, subscribe and follow, rate and review if you like it – find it on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Some quotes below:
On politics as professional wrestling: “Trump or other people in politics take advantage of the kayfabe…so much of what we see in politics is bait, is an effort to get people to yell about something, especially online or on social media, in a way that distracts people about real issues.”
On Twitter and the media: “It’s an inherently flattening concept in which you become whatever you are seen as being a representative of.”
On media self-importance: “What media thinks about itself has become a media story…How untethered is our industry and are we from what actual people are doing and actual people are thinking? Because I understand that we hold prominence and people think a lot about what people in our industry say. But people think about what we say on their way to do something else.”