Independent vs. Corporate Media w/Elizabeth Spiers
The TPM Show with Josh and Kate
Talking Points Memo
4.8 • 1.9K Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
TPM founder Josh Marshall sits down with independent media veteran and Gawker co-founder Elizabeth Spiers to take stock of the smouldering ruins we used to know as news media. They discuss how Peter Thiel’s Gawker lawsuit introduced new liabilities for independent media companies, why corporate media is more likely to capitulate to Trump than independent outlets, how billionaire-funding gives right-wing media an asynchronous advantage, and why reader-supported media leads to a better media landscape. Coincidentally, Josh also explains that TPM is in the middle of its annual membership drive and would love to have your support!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Josh Marshall, and this is the Josh Marshall podcast featuring Kate Riga. |
| 0:24.3 | Today we have something a bit different. Kate and I are off this week, but I have an interview |
| 0:29.2 | that we are going to present for you with Elizabeth Spires, a longtime friend of mine working in similar areas over many years. |
| 0:39.3 | She was the founding editor of Gawker and also the editor-in-chief of the New York Observer. |
| 0:45.0 | You may know her now from her regular guest column in the New York Times opinion section. |
| 0:50.4 | What we talked about in this interview is the challenges and also the strengths of |
| 0:56.8 | independent media today and also the business models that make them possible, especially |
| 1:01.8 | membership models. And we talked about this in the context of our annual TPM membership drive. |
| 1:09.2 | If you haven't signed up yet, we hope you will. So take a listen to this |
| 1:14.3 | relatively short interview I did with Elizabeth, and we will be back next week with the regular |
| 1:20.3 | edition of the podcast. All right. Well, Elizabeth, thanks so much for doing this. I was thinking about this morning. |
| 1:30.1 | And, you know, you're one of the few people who I have known since the beginning of this whole |
| 1:38.0 | kind of era that we're in, of, you know, when, you know, kind of new media was blogging. |
| 1:43.5 | I don't think we were in touch actually at the very beginning, but we were, you know, when, you know, kind of new media was blogging. I don't think we were in touch, actually, at the very beginning, but we were, you know, involved in the same sort of trend. |
| 1:52.4 | So let me, you know, you have been doing this for a very long time. |
| 1:57.1 | Tell me, what is your take on the sort of the whole smoldering ruins of what we used to know as news |
| 2:02.5 | media and where independent outlets fit into that and the you know the subscription |
| 2:08.7 | models and stuff like that what's you what's your kind of overall take on that well i don't know |
| 2:14.3 | about you but i fell backwards into media via gawker, where I was the founding editor. |
| 2:19.9 | And so my first experience in media was independent media. |
| 2:24.0 | Yeah, me too, me too. |
| 2:25.5 | Yeah. |
... |
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