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Travis Jordan

@grugstan.bsky.social

2K followers 920 following 2.9K posts

professional good boy // democracy, cities and tech // travisjordan.work // these are my own opinions and not those of my employer he/him // living in Meanjin Brisbane

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Oh The Urbanity! @ohtheurbanity.bsky.social · 9h

Banning AirBnB is a case where the “abundance” framing is useful.

I get the desire to prioritize residents over visitors in a housing emergency.

But shouldn’t the bigger long-term goal be more housing *and* more hotels? Rather than just managing scarcity?

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 2h

That's not even the original LF Auspol Embassy. SomethingAwful nuked that whole forum so it's not even in the archive for me to screenshot.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 2h

We must go back... further...

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 2h

It can theoretically be done well on a slim budget (as the excellent Brunswick Voice and Inner City News show) but that can't scale outside of high density, high information markets without a lot of investment.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Unfortunately it'd be both extremely expensive and require a very large administrative/HR backbone that would make it look very bad on a budget spreadsheet. For something most voters wouldn't value (at least initially)

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

That's why years ago I pitched the idea of converting the ABC Newswire into something like NZ's Local Government Reporting Service and hiring a bucketload of cadet journalists and regional editors to produce local affairs reportage on an open-access basis.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Yeah and some absolutely break some important stories but it's usually about some interally-fraught political issue that lets them be a bit more open to publishing leaks or rumours in a way that major outlets can't even if they wanted to.

Real PIJ is expensive and takes a LOT of people.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Years behind but I also don't think either end - Bluesky's market and setup or the openness of Australia's media market to social media led reporting that isn't just TikTok Daily - really works to facilitate it anyway.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

I always feel like I'm being uncharitable whenever I talk about them but.

Yeah. Yeah they are.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Unfortunately I don't think we have any sympathetically centrist billionaires willing to throw money at media operations in Australia. Ours don't even throw money at thinktanks or arts programmes anymore.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Imagine how much more time you'll have to stare at the wall.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Exactly! If it wasn't for having a bunch of them on Insta or LinkedIn, it'd be like they were totally out of the industry. Especially since a bunch are now backroom editors, producers or niche beat reporters so I don't even see their byline much.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

It forces me to think better! Who wants to think worse?!

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

I just don't think people who see criticism of our media ecosystem and just point to The Sunday Shot or whatever as a counterpoint understand the orders of magnitude of difference in standards and reach between something like that and an actual newspaper or TV station.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

That's not to say they don't have a place. I certainly (used to moreso than now) subscribe to a lot of them around the same time we're talking about.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

They also don't reach that many people and don't have the necessary prestige to grab decision-makers' attention if they aren't terminally On Line. At least real outlets turn up in media monitoring or freak out a media adviser when they see NINE NEWSPAPERS in the email footer.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

And yet she isn't Poasting?! What's even the point!?

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

No. That whole youth/new/digital media ecosystem is long gone. There'll be no more of that anymoreso than they'll be another Junket conference.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

And I'm sad it's gone and nothing's ever going to replace it.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Anyway I met a lot of people I consider close colleagues and good friends on Twitter in those days. I had a space to share ideas and have people build on them and constructively critique them and inspire me to do more with them.

It was democratising in all the ways we talk about the public square.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

I always had time for the whole Buzzfeed Auspol crew and it's shit that the entire news industry just kinda decided they were all disposable.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

God remember when the Graun used to actually publish opeds.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

Oh I had seen something about them moving to the US a few years ago. I'd lost track of them after they stopped being a legal reporter for SMH.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

And noone say some glorified blog or podcast. Those aren't the same things as a real media outlet no matter how hard we pretend.

Travis Jordan @grugstan.bsky.social · 3h

It's one of the few things I'm genuinely nostalgic for. Can you imagine anywhere taking a risk on Oz Faruqi or Lane Sainty these days?