Every Monday, I’m giving you a peek under the hood and talking about the hurdles and roadblocks we’re running into as a freshly minted media company.

If you like that (hopefully you do because that’s what you’re reading right now), you can ask me a direct question next week.

With a LNI membership, you can attend our inaugural Zoom call on Tuesday, August 12th at 8:00 pm ET.

You’ll be able to send in questions ahead of time, then ask them straight to my Zoom-face. And I’ll answer them, straight to your Zoom-face!

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A live subscriber Q&A on August 12th at 8pm ET where I’ll answer your questions about all things LNI and Lola’s favorite dog treats (Lola is a dog).

Local and International members register below.

And now, on to this week’s topic …

Insurance? In this economy?

Let me reassure you, as I did with my co-panelists on Kara Swisher’s podcast, that yes, LNI has lawyers, and yes, we are actively seeking out the best libel insurance plan.

But no, in the journalism program at my undergrad, we did not really discuss libel insurance, much less the importance of obtaining libel insurance when you leave a 147-year-old newspaper to start your own news video media company called Local News International. It just never came up!

To give some credit to LNI, it’s not like we’re three babies in a trench coat running a company. We’re at least five teenagers in a very large trench coat.

Local News International has Lauren Saks, my former editor at The Washington Post, helping to maintain the quality of each video and fact-checking based on the numerous articles we source from.

We also have Micah Gelman, the former head of video at The Post, who foolishly (but fortunately) let me start a TikTok account in 2019. More on him in a bit.

Then there’s Chris Vazquez, my former TikTok intern-turned-producer, writing the Thursday newsletter. And Sarah Hashemi, who we talked to in last week’s newsletter. She’s making all our graphics, including the fun push pins in our newsletters!

Still, nobody’s perfect. One mistake in a video could mean a huge headache.

Paramount caved to the Trump admin following a lawsuit. Columbia University did too, and Harvard might well be on their way.

As we discussed in the aforementioned Swisher podcast, it’s more important than ever in today’s political environment to make sure you’re covered.

While most of our news is couched in jokes about JD Vance (pun intended), there’s real, important factual information in there that you need to know. We’re going to tell you the truth, even if a current or future administration doesn’t like it.

Speaking of, stay tuned for today’s video on Trump’s firing of a top US labor official. It’ll be on YouTube, TikTok and Reels. Subscribe on all three platforms to unlock the Triple Crown LNI Award 👑*.

In the meantime, I’ll keep you updated on the process of starting a modern news video company. Should LNI incorporate in Delaware, for instance? Wyoming? In my own backyard in Missouri? Find out next Monday!

And now, as promised, my Q&A with Micah Gelman, one of our co-founders.

Thanks for having me Dave. Long time listener, first time caller.

When you let me start a TikTok account in 2019, what were your biggest concerns?

As always, my biggest concern was self-preservation. I’m a corporate stooge Dave, I never want to upset the bosses. Seriously though, you were dying out on YouTube at the time and I thought we might as well try something different. I also thought how exhausting it would be to get approval from the bosses at The Post, and I really don’t like extra work. But at the time they trusted me. I weighed the chance of me being fired vs. you succeeding and was pretty confident you’d do well and I would therefore look like a genius. Management!

I’ve always thought of my job as trying to get to yes with creative people and this was an easy call. I did ask you to keep it under the radar for a bit, which you promptly ignored.

Describe your new role at LNI.

I’m in the Dave business, Dave. My job, with Lauren, is to take the business-side off your plate so you can focus on content creation. My days are spent meeting with potential advertisers, distributors, and other partners. If you’re one of those, hit me up!

How is it different from your past jobs?

Well, the return-to-office policy here** is really draconian so I’m not happy about that. This is the first time I’ve been in business for myself so that’s scary and exciting. We need Slack and Zoom and email addresses. I’ve got to write an employee handbook for pete’s sake. I’m not sure if you’ve read about this, but a lot of media companies don’t have the greatest track record when it comes to profitability. We’re definitely going to be different than them.

How many hats do you own? Literally, not metaphorically. I know you’re doing a lot at LNI.

I own many hats of various shapes and/or sizes. About a half-dozen Baltimores Oriole’s caps, a few for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I have one hat that my son says is a lady’s golf hat, but he’s the one who told me to buy it at a hotel gift shop when I arrived in Florida sans head covering last year. The kid has a dark side.

Do you like newsletters?

I’ve never read one, but I’m open to the idea. When does this one come out? I need to set up the fax machine.

Micah’s dogs: Ollie (left) and Ziggy (right)

*There is no Triple Crown LNI Award 👑, but we would be super grateful if you subscribed to us on each platform anyway.

**There is no return-to-office policy. We don’t have an office.

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