Ep 387: Can Substack Save Journalism? + Viral Advice for Ignoring Your Phone

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Self-improvement, Technology, Education

4.8 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2026

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Last year, when columnist Paul Krugman left the NYT, it seemed like yet another example of the traditional media crumbling. But Krugman, as it turns out, is doing great. His popular substack now reaches massive audiences and earns him a seven-figure salary. Inspired by this story, in the ideas segment of today’s episode, we take a closer look at key numbers relevant to whether paid newsletters can replace traditional print media. Then, in the practices segment, we study some viral advice for spending less time on your phone. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia DEEP DIVE: Can Substack Save Journalism? + Viral Advice for Ignoring Your Phone [0:02] PRACTICES SEGMENT: How to successfully delete social media [50:40] Is it ok to use ChatGPT to try to better understand some classics? [1:04:51] How do I decide what to write down when I use the notebook method? [1:06:10] For professional writers trying to succeed today, isn’t Substack the platform of the moment? [1:12:00] CAL’S READING UPDATE: Cal gives his weekly reading update [1:18:28] Airframe (Michael Crichton)The Great Train Robbery (Michael Crichton) Fantastic Voyage (Isaac Asimov) Links:Buy Cal’s latest book, “Slow Productivity” at calnewport.com/slow Get a signed copy of Cal’s “Slow Productivity” at peoplesbooktakoma.com/event/cal-newport/ Cal’s monthly book directory: bramses.notion.site/059db2641def4a88988b4d2cee4657ba?cjr.org/analysis/paul-krugman-leaving-new-york-times-heavy-hand-editing-less-frequent-columns-newsletter.phpsubstack.com/@paulkrugmannatesilver.net/p/always-be-bloggingreallygoodbusinessideas.com/p/most-popular-substackspewresearch.org/journalism/fact-sheet/newspapers/rnz.co.nz/life/culture/any-attempt-to-simplify-elon-musk-is-futile-the-nz-cofounder-of-substackdaringfireball.net/2024/11/regarding_and_well_against_substackyoutube.com/watch?v=eUSBKj5ZQpo Thanks to our Sponsors: meetfabric.com/deeppipedrive.com/deepfactormeals.com/deep50offmonarch.com (Use code “DEEP”) Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	right around this time last year one of the big stories in the world of media was the announcement
0:07.9	that the economist and columnist Paul Krugman was leaving the New York Times. I'm going to load
0:14.3	here on the screen for people who are watching one of the articles from around this period. You can
0:18.4	see the headline was Paul Krugman on leaving the New York
0:21.8	Times and the subhead says the paper wanted to take away his newsletter or make him write less
0:27.4	frequently, he says. It goes on the summarized that Krugman was fed up with that. He felt like he
0:33.6	was being pushed out and he left. Now at the time when this all went down last year,
0:39.0	I took it as yet another example of this sort of slow motion dismantling of traditional media
0:45.2	that we have been seen during the entire era of the internet's rise. I mean, in an age of
0:51.8	digital distraction, the business model for traditional media is really struggling to compete, right?
0:56.3	Because on your phone, information is free and distraction is powerful.
1:02.1	And if you want to know about the news, your phone can deliver you dozens of algorithmically curated takes that are reduced down to pithy tweets or compelling short-term
1:10.9	videos to make you feel like you're in the middle of all sorts of action.
1:13.3	It's just more interesting and more accessible than a lot of traditional media.
1:18.9	So it feels like the age in which experts like Paul Krugman attempt to make careful sense of
1:23.2	events in the pages of print publications is rapidly disappearing and that in its places
1:27.9	emerging a world in which all truth and expertise are vanishing, all information is becoming
1:32.3	entertainment, all realities are becoming equally valid.
1:35.9	But then, more recently, it came across something interesting.
1:41.6	I was having coffee with someone who knows Krugman. And he told me, like, look, after the, after the time, after he left the times, Crookman started up a substack, which, you know, you might think of like, oh, that's kind of sad. It's like the once famous TV personality now has the sort of low rated podcast or whatever. But here's what my source told me. No, no, you don't understand.
2:02.3	Paul is killing it.
2:04.3	His subscriber count rivals the Times' Sunday print circulation.
	...

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