5.9 KiB
Custom Media Kit Checklist for Key Journalists
Strategic Alignment for Investigating Platform Manipulation & Digital Censorship
Each journalist has their own unique lens through which they see narrative suppression, digital manipulation, and power structures. To maximize engagement and resonance, ensure that the media kit aligns with their deep motivations, past work, and audience focus.
1. Glenn Greenwald – The Relentless Dissenter
Core Motivation: Exposing state and corporate power collusion, censorship, and surveillance.
Checklist for Customization:
- Emphasize corporate-government ties in platform manipulation.
- Show how powerful digital actors shape narratives in ways that undermine dissenting voices.
- Draw parallels to historical whistleblower suppression (Snowden, Assange).
- Provide evidence of coordinated suppression tactics and show systemic implications.
- Highlight how these tactics could be used against any independent journalist.
- Deliver archived, verifiable data—proof over rhetoric.
2. Bari Weiss – The Free Speech Warrior
Core Motivation: Standing against ideological conformity and institutional suppression of free thought.
Checklist for Customization:
- Focus on the ideological consequences of deplatforming.
- Show how dissenting voices—across all spectrums—are erased when they challenge dominant narratives.
- Highlight the pattern of intellectual suppression and its chilling effect.
- Frame the story as a broader cultural issue, not just a personal attack.
- Include historical parallels—McCarthyism, campus censorship, cancel culture.
- Emphasize that this is not about one ideology winning over another—but about preserving open discourse.
3. Matt Taibbi – The Corporate Media Disruptor
Core Motivation: Exposing the corporate media machine, its manipulation, and its suppression tactics.
Checklist for Customization:
- Highlight the corporate interests behind platform policies.
- Show how moderation “loopholes” are selectively applied.
- Provide financial or policy incentives that encourage this kind of censorship.
- Demonstrate how bad actors manipulate platforms for PR control.
- Reference past media industry manipulations that mirror Joel’s tactics.
- Use plainspoken, no-nonsense language—cut the fluff.
4. Michael Shellenberger – The Exposer of Hidden Power
Core Motivation: Investigating hidden power structures, digital censorship, and free speech suppression.
Checklist for Customization:
- Frame the issue as an institutionalized system of digital control.
- Provide evidence of algorithmic manipulation—the hidden, unseen forces.
- Highlight the broader impact on independent investigative journalism.
- Show how platform policies favor digital elites over independent voices.
- Give a long-term view—how this pattern will shape the future of online discourse.
5. Tim Pool – The Digital Maverick
Core Motivation: Independent reporting, platform transparency, and challenging mainstream media narratives.
Checklist for Customization:
- Emphasize how platforms selectively enforce policies.
- Show how independent creators and journalists are most at risk.
- Provide examples of “rules for thee, not for me” enforcement.
- Give a clear digital trail—screenshots, receipts, timestamps.
- Use conversational, engaging language—memes, humor, sarcasm welcome.
6. Libby Emmons – The Cultural Battleground Analyst
Core Motivation: Investigating ideological policing, narrative manipulation, and media control.
Checklist for Customization:
- Highlight how cultural discourse is shaped by digital suppression.
- Show how platform biases lead to ideological censorship.
- Provide examples of voices across different perspectives being silenced.
- Frame Joel’s case as a case study in digital ideological warfare.
7. Andy Ngo – The Exile of Narrative Control
Core Motivation: Documenting real-world consequences of digital suppression, especially regarding violent activism and media bias.
Checklist for Customization:
- Highlight how narrative control leads to real-world consequences.
- Show how digital suppression serves to protect abusers.
- Provide a strong personal angle—what this deplatforming means for whistleblowers.
- Offer parallels to past suppression cases.
8. Zaid Jilani – The Nuanced Truth-Seeker
Core Motivation: Investigating bad-faith narratives, digital manipulation, and media bias with a nuanced, centrist approach.
Checklist for Customization:
- Avoid framing this as purely ideological—focus on systemic corruption.
- Show how this manipulation impacts all sides of the political spectrum.
- Provide concrete examples of similar cases affecting both left and right voices.
- Offer solutions—what platforms can do to prevent such manipulations.
Final Notes for Execution
✔ Each journalist must feel like the case study is already within their investigative lane.
✔ Language must match their natural style and audience expectations.
✔ Frame Joel’s tactics as an escalation of a larger, ongoing problem.
✔ Position yourself not as the victim, but as the investigator uncovering a structural failure.
✔ Always provide hard evidence—screenshots, archives, receipts—before opinion.
This is not just a media push.
This is a convergence of truth-seekers, each with their own audience, each with their own mission.
The key is to not make them feel like they are covering your battle—
but instead, make them realize that this is a battle they were already fighting.
Now?
They just have the smoking gun.