New Media vs. Old Media – Making Your News – with Sam Anthony – [Ep. 267]

Linda J. Hansen:  Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101 Breakroom Economics® Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host. I seek to unleash the power of employers to reclaim and preserve America by educating employees about public policy issues that affect their jobs. I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement, and retention, and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Join us each week and be sure to visit prosperity101.com for resources and information.

Thank you so much for joining with me today. It is a pleasure to have you join us. Before I get into the interview, I want to say a special thank you to our prosperity partners. Thank you to those of you who help us keep the podcast on the air by giving financially either a one-time gift or monthly, whatever you can afford. We appreciate every gift of support that comes in from our prosperity partners, so we thank you.

I am also very grateful for our strategic partners. Our strategic partners also help us keep the podcast on the air by aligning with us in the freedom economy. You can also see our strategic partners on the show notes or the website. I invite you to support those businesses who are also supporting the freedom economy. So please do support our strategic partners. I'll share who they are, and I just appreciate your support and listening today. 

So speaking of freedom and the freedom economy, one of the things that we really need in order to have freedom is freedom of speech. This is one thing that has made America different. I'd love to say it's available all around the world, but it is not, and for many of us in America, it's not always been available for us. Especially in the era of cancel culture. We've seen so many people be canceled, limited, censored for telling the truth, and so we are just really thankful any time real news, real truth can get out.

And we do have freedom. Of course, there's freedom to lie, right? But truth rises, and I always say truth and time go together. So our job is to make sure truth can get out and we can have avenues for people to access it.

With that in mind, I'd like to introduce you to my guest, Sam Anthony. Sam is the founder of YourNews.com. He has been working to revolutionize the online media industry. His website for news is really quite unique, and I think you'll be excited to learn about it and follow your news, your local news, from YourNews.com, but you will find some interesting aspects to how we can get our news and how we can move beyond the legacy media, into new media, and beginning to get truth out to the American people and people around the world.

So Sam, thank you so much for joining with us today.

Sam Anthony: Linda, pleasure to be with you here today.

Linda J. Hansen: Yeah, well, thank you. Your website, YourNews.com, is really quite unique. Can you tell the listeners what led you to start it and then a little bit more about it? 

Sam Anthony: Sure. You know, I started this many years ago.

We believed that the Internet was going to transform the media space, in particular, the newspaper industry. And so, me and a couple of guys set out to build a platform that would ultimately replace the local newspaper, which we all know is... And I did this, by the way, when nobody believed this story; the newspapers are going to go away. And then today, everybody still scratches their head going, are they still printing that thing? It's been a long road.

And honestly, a lot of times people say, why did you start this business? Did you know that this tyranny was coming and this cancel culture was coming? I go, I had no idea. I didn't even realize it was important what we were doing, the significance of it, until Trump won the election in 2016, because I was not somebody who believed the media lied. I thought that was... I thought it didn't.

I guess I just had my head in the sand, but when Trump won, all of a sudden they just started fabricating everything. I mean, it was blatant. And even when they got caught in a lie, they doubled down on it, right? So if you tell a lie enough times, it becomes reality.

So that's when I realized what we were doing was actually really important. We've went through a lot of hurdles. I will tell you this, you know, legacy media is on its last leg.

They really don't have much more to go. I mean, the physical print products are almost gone completely. Radio and TV are next.

And I know you've, at least we talked about the numbers with legacy media. All I'm going to say is this, the average age of the cable news viewer is now 72 years old. Did you know that? 

Linda J. Hansen: I did not know that was the average age.

Sam Anthony: All right. So I'm not going to get into what the average person lives to, but people could do the math on their own. Okay.

So there is a limited lifespan. The interesting point of the ad week numbers that I've been saying for the last two weeks, first quarter of this year, which the interesting part of that was for people viewing, it's the age demographic between 25 and 54 represented about a half a million people over the first quarter of cable news. That's for Fox, MSNBC, CNN.

That's how many people watched over three months. And the point is, well, that's your death bell right there. That's the end because the advertisers follow the money. Want to know where everybody's getting their news? TikTok, Instagram, Rumble, Facebook. I mean, also X and Spotify, all social media. It's all on demand.

So the reality is the new media is the next mainstream. What nobody does is local news and local news is really the backbone of a free society, right? You can't let that go unchecked.

So what I'm doing is bringing back the local newspaper because our platform, which is yournews.com, when you log in, it geolocates you. So I know if you live in Milwaukee, Miami, LA, it doesn't matter. And if you block it, you enter your zip code and it'll take you to your city.

So it's going to look like the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the LA Times, just on steroids. We are a news content distribution platform. So like I showed you, Linda, we could publish news to a city, a county, a market, state, regional or national.

It's by subject. So if it's somebody's Little League game, it's sports news for the city. If it's the high school football game, it's sports news for the market. If it's the Monday night football game, it's sports news. National gets distributed to all zip codes.

So what we are, like every news outlet, is an aggregator, an information aggregator. So here's how the media business works. If you don't know, people that have news will send a press release to the media.

If you're a church and you're having a bake sale, how do you think the newspaper or the radio and TV stations find out? Somebody from the church sends a press release to the news outlets. They aggregate it and then the media decides what gets aired or published. So what I am is an aggregator of the identical content.

But because of our scale, we have the ability to print it all because we can organize it by subject and geography. So there's a social component where the public can interact like you can with Craigslist, where you set up an account, you post, the content comes in as pending review, and then it gets distributed out based on geographical relevance by topic. Make sense? 

Linda J. Hansen: It does. And it's really interesting because you have done something that is not as common in that new media space, and that is making sure we have the local news, making sure the local, state, national is all aggregated where you can see how it all connects too. I just recently became aware of you and your work, and it's just very interesting.

I think that so many people would benefit from it, especially people who are not as plugged into many other news sources. We were talking earlier before recording that people do not have time to go everywhere and review 17 different news sources to get the news that they really need, so it's helpful.

And yes, we have alerts on our phone and we have the weather channel. We have all these different things that can keep us up to date on things. But you have really come up with a way to aggregate things.

Now, you also are bringing in journalists, like citizen journalists and podcasters and news reporters and things that are bringing content to your site and helping them to have a platform where their voice can be heard to a wider audience. I think that's exciting too, because when we think of new media, I just think too, like President Trump in the White House, in the White House briefing room, how innovative and wise was it to bring in podcasters? The new media people, they understood that legacy media is dead or dying, and to just only have that in the White House briefing room is not fair to the American people.

The American people are going elsewhere to get their news, and that is where we need to find the truth. I asked you a question about how important this is to businesses and business owners and employers and what you would say to business owners or employers to help them understand how to explain the importance of this to their employees.

Sam Anthony: Yes. Well, it's free speech, right? I mean, this whole country is set up as a democracy where we have freedom of speech and freedom of speech should prevail. And what we witnessed over the last four or eight years, where you said people are getting canceled for telling the truth.

Could you ever believe this was going to happen in the United States of America? I mean, can you imagine telling the truth and going, OK, you're off. We don't want your narrative. We want to push a lie.

So it's really a shame that it has come to this. Everybody's seen the Sinclair broadcasting video where you have the 50 channels saying the same thing at the same time. So there's no independent news reporting.

The legacy media, and I'm going to just set the stage with back in the 80s, there were over 500 independent news outlets, OK? Today, there's six. You want to know why we're in the mess we're in? It's because of that. That's the reason.

So it's all basically centralized news where they decide what's important to you. You don't get to decide that. So what I'm doing is I'm bringing back journalism the way it should be, where it's all independent news reporting.

Remember this, Linda, you're the brand. Every single podcaster on YouTube is their own brand, everybody. Their job is to build their own audience and they leverage the platform of YouTube or Rumble for distribution and monetization, right? What I do is I bring on news reporters and those news reporters, by the way…. let me ask you this question.

Do you ever work for a network TV station? 

Linda J. Hansen: I did not. 

Sam Anthony: OK, yet somehow you have your own show and you're broadcasting, correct? 

Linda J. Hansen: Correct. 

Sam Anthony: It's because you're using distribution, whether it's audio on Spotify and YouTube or Rumble or whatever you want.

Our platform allows for everyday people to become local news reporters. So somebody like you or in your audience listening could say, you know what? I want to be a news reporter in my town. I already go to the high school football game.

I already go to the city council meetings. Everybody in town knows me. Why can't I be a local news reporter? And those people can create accounts with us and start reporting the local news and they could start sharing on social media.

They're the ones that are going to become the go to person for that particular topic that they enjoy. This is actually the best time to be in the media business. It really is.

I tell people that all the time. All these young kids, if they were to get a job, which nobody's hiring, you have people that have been there at that newspaper for years. So they have to start at the bottom and maybe 20 years from now, they may work their way up with us.

Those people are all gone. All the new people coming in are going to be the go to people for local news. So this is really, this is really for people in journalism today it's the best time.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, it is. I've seen the phrase so often, we are the media now.

Like if I follow people on X or get news out myself, sometimes the legacy media is saying whatever, but there's enough people always refuting it and getting the truth out because the citizens have become the media. And so everybody listening or viewing this, you can be a news maker, a news reporter, you need to do so. I mean, there's been amazing things where I'm so thankful for Elon Musk buying X. I mean, I know we all have different opinions of him for different things.

And I can't say I agree with everything, but I will say that it's wonderful to have that greater freedom. It might not be unrestricted freedom, but a greater freedom on X because I know so many people, I know many, many people personally who were censored off Twitter. And so to have the platform on X, you see the legacy media will be putting a story about some protest or some event.

And then you get all this video and comment and live, live information from people on the ground. It's like night and day difference. And so we get enough of that and we have truth that comes out and truth in time will go together.

And it's going to be truth that's really going to help us save this nation and make sure we can turn it around and never have to go through a canceled culture season like we've been through. Like you mentioned, it is not something that we ever thought we'd ever have in America where we would be censored. And we would be taken off of media channels or not allowed to speak at public meetings like school board meetings or city council meetings, things like that, where we have been silenced because we have spoken the truth or because we disagreed with the powers that be.

But that's not what America is about. America is about freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble and the right to redress grievances. All of these things that we have as freedoms in America and it's up to us to protect it.

And by doing so, we will protect our right to free speech. And with that free speech comes freedom of commerce, comes freedom of travel. All of our freedoms, our basic freedoms are really in that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We need to have free speech in order to be able to be free people.

Sam Anthony: I couldn't agree with you more. That was well said.

So the crazy part is just like YouTube, anybody can become a content creator and have their own YouTube channel, become a broadcaster. In our case, anybody can become a news reporter and the cream will rise to the top, 100%.

And by the way, you even get paid for it. So if you build an audience, like on YouTube, when you start out, you have to build a specific audience, then they monetize you and you make more money if you have 10,000 viewers than if you do, if you have a thousand. So you got to build it.

In our case, it's the same thing. The difference is we monetize you right away, but you have to start building your audience. So what I'm doing ultimately will replace the legacy media. It won't be an X. They're a different type of product. What we do is local news. 

So the high school football game, the bank robbery, the car crash, the city council meeting, that kind of stuff, which is all hyperlocal in communities, but who knows the local community better than the people who live there? So honestly, Linda, what I see is, I see nothing but opportunity, right? I see in any paradigm, the reason you've never sent a telegraph is because somebody created a telephone. And the reason you don't get in a horse and buggy when you walk out of your house is because somebody created an automobile.

Never in history has the old guard been part of the new. What's going to transpire is all new people. And so the news reporting landscape is going to completely change.

And you're going to have, as one of the content creators told me, you're a star maker. What do you mean? He goes, well, you take somebody like me and you put somebody next to me that doesn't have as big of an audience. And all of a sudden my people see him and go, wow, I want to follow that guy. And next thing you know, that guy becomes bigger. But look, the cream is always going to rise to the top. That's how it works.

And so you have some people on YouTube. You ever been to a YouTube channel where it said the last posting was two years ago, three years ago? OK, want to know why? Most likely because they didn't make any money yet. Right.

That's how it works. And so in our case, you're going to have some content creators that are producing content that people want and they want to see. And you're going to have others that produce stuff that people aren't as interested in.

So this is where it's called the free market. And I think you know what that is. 

Linda J. Hansen: Yes, I do. And it's something I promote and love to see. So how many, I mean, just for people's reference points, like the amount of traffic on your site and the people that you serve, give us some numbers. 

Sam Anthony: Last year, we had a total of 5.4 million people consume over 104 million articles was the number.

We have about 5,000 content creators, a little more. You saw the numbers, 4,100 and change were PR firms and nonprofits or people that have opinions or classifieds that post them. But then now we're getting into the news reporting.

So in the last year, we've picked up just under 900 news reporters. So remember this, Linda, there's 20,000 cities. If I have one person in a city, it's 20,000 people.

If you have five, it's 100,000. Milwaukee's going to need more than five people. And I was talking to somebody, I think it was Dave Hodges in Arizona, Maricopa County. And I asked him, how many high schools are there? He said, there's like over 100. I mean, so think of all the local sports going on.

One person can't cover all that stuff. I mean, you could have 50, 60 news reporters covering high school sports. Just in one market.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, and this would be a great opportunity. Correct me if I'm wrong. But for high school students and college students or young people who are looking to sharpen their skills and learn how to do reporting and things like this, this would be a great avenue for them to get their name out there and to be able to do that local reporting.

I mean, so often you need that. And a lot of times it's interns. It was always interns doing things.

Well, because we don't have that same system anymore and things have changed so much in the way journalism is taught and journalists are brought through into legacy media, we could see that this could be a great opportunity for young people to really sharpen their skills and learn how to be true journalists. 

Sam Anthony: You hit it on the head. And I've been saying this, when you get out of school or you're still in school, when you're interviewing, people want to see what's the work you've done. We'd like to see some of your work. 

Well, on our platform, everybody has an author page. So once you submit an article, you have an author page and it carries all of your content. So all you have to do is show them that. 

But on another note, who's going to be hiring? I mean, I'm going to tell you right now, anybody who sets up shop with me is not going to really get a job anywhere else in the next couple of years.

Unless it's some other occupation, because the media industry is collapsing. I'm going to tell you right now, 100%, it's all going to platforms and it'll all be monetization and distribution. That'll be it.

So news reporting will be on these platforms, but it won't be exclusive to a platform. So somebody like yourself might want to have an account with me for distribution and monetization, but you're also going to put your stuff on Spotify. You're also going to have it on Rumble and whatever other outlets.

So that's where it's all going to go. 

Linda J. Hansen: But we also never know, like these young people, too, it may not be the traditional jobs we think of, but it may be something working in communication somewhere with someone.

It might be, anything. I just think it's just a great opportunity for people to get their work out. We need to be the eyes and ears on the ground. We need to be the ones that are speaking about what is truly happening in our neighborhoods, in our school districts, in our state governments, and all of that. Because we hear so much about the national news, we don't always hear the rest of it.

And it's important for us to do so because, if you want to solve a problem, go to the people closest to the problem. And usually that's the local level. And I often quote that. That's a quote from Herman Cain. 

But I see that this can be a really important tool. So any closing comments before we say goodbye? I want to make sure people know how to find you and how to not only access the site, but contact you if they're interested. And anything else you'd like to say before we close the interview? 

Sam Anthony: Yeah. So, we're always looking for more readers. So if you guys consume news, we're definitely a source for information.

We have 5,000 content creators on our platform and some of them are monetized and they make money every time an article is open. So they're always looking for more people to consume their content, number one. So if any of you are interested in being a news reporter, a citizen journalist, if you will, and covering news and getting paid for it, if you go to yournews at the bottom of the page, there's something that says become a citizen journalist. There's an application you fill out. And then from there, we look at it. And once you get approved, you get an email notification.

And then we also are doing something I told you about, called an equity crowdfund. Linda, I'm a firm believer that the reason we're in the mess we're in today is because you have six institutions that control the press. And so they're the ones, it's much easier to control six people than it is to control 500 or 1,000.

Years ago, it was all independent news reporting. Today, you basically have a state-controlled media, is what you have. And we all know that now because through USAID, where they were all funding these news outlets, right? 

Linda J. Hansen: And these news outlets were being funded. And then suddenly a lot of these shows are being canceled or the hosts or the guests are being canceled off the program. It's amazing. 

Sam Anthony: Isn't it? So there's no more money left. It's all drying up. And so bye-bye. So with us, I've decided, but for those of you who don't know, my background is capital raising.

It's all I've ever done for a living. And you deal with institutions because you could have people that have family offices, private equity firms, hedge funds. They all have money.

They raise the money and then they look for deals to fund. So it's much easier to go to somebody that has millions of dollars that's looking for deals. But we decided that if we're really going to be a news organization that's by the people, for the people, the people should actually own the product.

So we did something called an equity crowd fund. And we're using a platform called Issuance Express, which is owned by North Capital Partners. So it's still a brokerage firm.

You're still doing a private placement, but we don't allow any institutional money. So all the people that are investing are we the people. And it's not donations, just so we're clear.

This is actual securities, but people could spend $200 and anywhere in between. But the way you find that is you would go to our platform and go down to the bottom and it'll say, invest. And you click that, it'll take you to another page.

You can read about what we're doing. If you like what we're doing and you want to participate, fine. If not, that's okay. Either way. 

Linda J. Hansen: Well, that's good. So, okay, everyone, you can learn about yournews.com by going to the website and you'll see what they have for your local area and also what else it could offer you. And if you're interested in getting involved, you can follow the appropriate links and contact Sam there. So yournews.com. Thank you so much, Sam Anthony, for being with us today. 

Sam Anthony: Thank you, Linda. Pleasure being here. 

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