🇺🇸 The real American State Fair
⚽️ Colombia to Kansas City!
👨🏼🍳 Baba’s Pantry
🤳🏼 Making ads you actually like
Soccer fans in San Juan, California.
Americans of all political backgrounds are celebrating in the streets. Locals are welcoming visitors with open arms, ushering them into their homes, neighborhoods, stores and restaurants. Outdoor festivals feature performances ranging from Pitbull to the Chainsmokers. Every day, thousands of grills are fired up as people of all colors and creeds feast in our backyards.
I’m talking about the World Cup, of course. The Great American State Fair is a politicized mess, a dumping site for President Trump’s ill-conceived ideas - literally. On the National Mall, a replica of an arch not yet approved by Congress looms sadly over the sparsely-attended events.
As I mentioned in this video a couple weeks back, the Freedom 250 committee more or less took over for the decade-old America250 commission put in place by Congress. We don’t know where all the money is going, we don’t know how much Trump is profiting or gaining from business deals. We should keep reporting on that. But, for now, I’ll stop ragging on the end result. It’s mostly sad. As an American, that makes me sad.
But you know what’s not sad? How welcoming the vast majority of Americans have been to visiting people as the World Cup rolls on. This is the America 250 we need, even if we don’t deserve it. America has been a superpower for decades because of its ability to combine the best of every person and culture. We’re seeing that every day with the World Cup. It makes me feel, dare I say … patriotic?
What’s your best World Cup experience so far? Let me know at [email protected]. Read on for my favorite part …
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What I’m watching
Colombia!!! A tie against Portugal was all Colombia needed to win their group on Saturday night. As a Colombian fan (by marriage and now, by heart), winning the group was especially significant as their next match will now be in Kansas City. Will I get tickets? Stay tuned. If we don’t get tickets, will I hire a motorcade of all-black SUVs and try to get in to the game, claiming I’m the vice president? Anything is possible. But our backup, a local Colombian restaurant in North Kansas City called Paisa MX has been excellent so far.
Our second time watching a game at Paisa MX.
I watched something else in the last week. If you follow me on Instagram, Bluesky or Threads, you’re probably well aware, as I cannot stop posting about it, or comparing moments in the show to real news events.
When I took a self-imposed two days off last weekend, I watched all of Widow’s Bay. Many thanks to those of you who suggested it in the latest quarterly LNI-members-only town hall (become a member today!).
The Apple TV series has received well-earned praise for its magical mix of the horror and comedy genres, but I think it’s even more specific. It’s Parks and Rec and LOST. It has all the island fever, mystery and dramatic stakes of LOST, and all the small-town feel and fully fleshed out world of the fictional Pawnee, Indiana. And that’s not surprising: Widow’s Bay was created by Parks and Rec writer, Katie Dippold. I think this decade-old Tweet of Dippold herself perfectly sums up her humor and why the show works so well:
What I’m eating
If you’re visiting Kansas City for the World Cup, look no further than Baba’s Pantry. My wife and I visit this Palestinian bakery so much that I just assumed I’d spoken about it in the newsletter, but it turns out - I haven’t! They’re getting plenty of recognition locally, with this piece in the Kansas City that (correctly) asserts it’s one of the best restaurants in the country. Now, with the World Cup, it’s getting international recognition too - a fitting story for us here at Local News International.
From their homepage.
Get there early enough when it opens at 11 am on Sunday and you’ll have full access to the best cookies and baked goods that Baba has to offer. We got there at 11:01 am, just behind someone who purchased ten pistachio cookies. Fear not, there were plenty left. And if come you later in the day, their falafel sandwich is top tier.
The atmosphere itself is joyous too, with Baba, a 66-year-old Palestinian-American, bestowing his good recipes and disarming mustached grin upon the patrons at all hours. And yes, the restaurant has held several fundraisers to help families in Gaza.
So far you're 2/2 on ads I don't get annoyed by. (Maybe more, but i can only remember 2 right now.)
This week’s peek behind the curtain
In our forever-mission of transparency, I thought I’d explain our process behind short-form video advertisements. As an independent journalist and content creator, we need the ads to keep this ship afloat and I need to be in them. The entire relationship I’ve built with you, the audience, is what advertisers are interested in, so it follows naturally that I should be in the ads promoting the product. From day one of Local News International last August, we’ve worked very hard to make the following true for all our short-form video ads:
They should feel natural and funny. More and more, companies are beginning to understand that they don’t know our audiences. Guidelines are helpful, but providing a full ad-read often doesn’t work. Especially on podcasts, you can see hosts fall into this monotone ad-read voice. You know what I’m talking about - it’s like the first read-through of a script in a writers room. There’s no real emotion behind it. You know it’s not real. I want the opposite of that. You’ll see us try new innovative “ad reads” in our upcoming long-form series too (stay tuned for a comprehensive update in the coming weeks!).
Ads should not take away from our mission of delivering news. Even at The Washington Post, I pushed for the ads to be posted on Sundays. The argument was that we were already posting, often more than once a day, Monday through Friday. By posting the ad on Sunday it wasn’t taking away from our regular content. It was additive, instead. At LNI, for now, I am just one person posting, so I just don’t have the time for Sunday ads. Instead, we took that “additive” idea and ran with it. Our Harry’s and Ground News ads talk about current news stories with an ad right in the middle. This only works because those organizations allow us very quick approval times and a long leash on creativity. This will be true with future advertisers you’ll be seeing as well. We’re very grateful for these forward-thinking companies. Which brings me too ….
We ensure the organizations reflects our actual views. I’ve mentioned more than once that we’ve been approached by a certain prediction market company you my have heard of. I understand why. We have a lot of reach on many platforms, which includes a large, young male audience. But gambling, specifically from a company that has direct, possible criminal ties to the current administration, just does not work with us. We’ve rejected plenty of AI-generative offers from companies that do the creative work for you (gross!).
Finally, if there’s an ask, we make it as easy as possible for you to complete the task. Whether it’s our petition for better public data via USA Facts or merch promotion, or even asking you to sign up for this newsletter, I make it as easy as possible. This means vocal and visual step-by-step instructions in the video, showing you how to navigate from the video to the site. That means I’ll even make two or three separate versions for the different platforms. Here’s an example from a recent Ground News video:
Instagram (left) and Shorts (right)
Still here? Check out Friday’s video on Meta’s new AI-powered prediction market app.
See you every day, all week, wherever you get your news videos!
