An Important Message This Evening

Today, I gave my first-ever keynote address to a room full of people connected to journalism — reporters, editors, students, skeptics, believers (video to come hopefully soon). And I stood before them not as someone who came up through traditional media, but as someone whose work began on social media. My one message was clear:

Journalism is here. And social media journalism is the future. But that future is under threat. Let me be honest with you: I’ve received threats — online, in person, even to my home. Why? Because I report in real-time, from the ground, without waiting for permission. Because truth still makes people uncomfortable — especially when it's fast, direct, and unfiltered.

And here's something many people don’t realize: journalism like this doesn’t survive on ad dollars or billionaire backers. I’m not funded by a corporation. I’m not cushioned by a media empire. I’m backed by you. Your subscriptions, your support, and your belief in independent journalism are the only reason I can keep doing this work.

If you believe in the future of journalism — in real people telling real stories in real time — I’m asking you to subscribe. Because the truth needs more than attention. It needs a foundation.

Here’s how all of this started:

In February 2022, I wasn’t a journalist. I wasn’t an anchor. I was two years out of law school — a fledgling lawyer with family in Kyiv, Ukraine. As the world watched the slow build-up to war, I was hearing something very different from what I saw on the news.

My relatives were calling me with fear in their voices: tanks lining up, air raid sirens blaring, windows taped for safety. What I saw in American media, though, was a delay — a vacuum — where urgency should have lived. There was a disconnect between what I knew to be true and what was making it to air.

So, I did the only thing I could: I started sharing what I knew. Not with a press pass, but with a phone. Not with a news team, but with firsthand accounts. And what I learned was something powerful:

Social media didn’t kill journalism. It gave it back to the people.

It stripped away the gatekeepers. It broke the scarcity model — limited airtime, limited bylines, limited access. Suddenly, truth didn’t have to wait for an editor’s green light or a producer’s nod. Proximity became power. Authenticity became currency. Immediacy became the standard.

Traditional media wasn’t ready for that. It wasn’t designed for a world where anyone — including someone like me — could break a story simply because I was close enough to feel it.

But we need to be clear-eyed: journalism is being threatened. Not just by authoritarian regimes or disinformation campaigns, but by financial instability, burnout, and a broken attention economy. It’s never been easier to publish — and never been harder to sustain it.

That’s why your support matters. Subscriptions don’t just help journalists like me survive — they help the truth survive.

So I’ll end where I began: the future of journalism isn’t a pressroom or a newsroom. It’s us. The ones with the stories, the tools, and the courage to tell them — without waiting for permission.

We’re not just witnessing the evolution of journalism.

We are it.