What's Not the News: May 28
Welcome to another edition of Not the News. We’re back on our normal Thursday schedule and, unlike John Krasinski, we haven’t sold our non-Covid news publication to a media conglomerate! We’re the real ones.
Read
Is Ronan Farrow too Good to Be True?
You likely know that Ronan Farrow has been the reporter of the #MeToo moment.
When we recommended his podcast about his reporting on the Harvey Weinstein story, we wrote that his dark tales of conspiracy and espionage would sound unbelievable if you didn’t know they actually happened.
But does Farrow ever cut corners for the sake of the narrative? In a very thoughtful and well-researched piece, Ben Smith, the New York Times’s media columnist raises that question:
His reporting can be misleading but he does not make things up. His work, though, reveals the weakness of a kind of resistance journalism that has thrived in the age of Donald Trump: That if reporters swim ably along with the tides of social media and produce damaging reporting about public figures most disliked by the loudest voices, the old rules of fairness and open-mindedness can seem more like impediments than essential journalistic imperatives.
Smith documents multiple instances when Farrow didn’t cross his Ts and dot his Is. The question is: How much should that matter in the context of the larger story?
A Feud in Wolf-Kink Erotica Raises a Deep Legal Question
…Is really the headline of this New York Times story about the growth of fan fiction. The deep legal question is essentially this: When two fan fic authors write similar books with similar universes, is either one infringing the other’s copyright? Can they get Amazon to stop selling the other’s books?
As the genre commercializes, authors aggressively defend their livelihoods, sometimes using a 1998 law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, to get online retailers to remove competitors’ books.
But what does that mean when the ultimate source material is a crowdsourced collective? Legal experts say the system is easily abused.
The story gets into the similar plots of the two books that gave rise to the feud and…let’s just say I wouldn’t read the story aloud to a group of nuns. But if it can be published in the NYT, it can appear in this newsletter.
A Hidden Origin Story of the CBD Craze
CBD is a chemical that comes from marijuana and, unlike THC, is legal—so, naturally you can find it anywhere. Kim Kardashian even threw a CBD-themed baby shower.
How did CBD get so big? Well, a little bit of science, a little bit of profiteering, and a little bit of federal government help.
A consultant hired to do an investigation by a corporate chain recently told me that the percentage of over-the-counter CBD products that contained the amount on the label was “in the single digits.”
“There haven’t been enough clinical trials and there never will be,” said Mr. Clarke, the cannabis seed collector. Big Pharma is most invested in medications that they can control, that they alone can patent.
Watch
Switching gears this week, a movie and a comedy special for you.
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (Netflix)
A totally unique take on a comedy special that got rave reviews when it came out two years ago. Sometimes you forget you’re watching a comedy special, but it’s more thought-provoking than any other special you’ve seen.
Icarus (Netflix)
Can you tell I have a Netflix subscription? This doc tells the remarkably true story of Russian doping at the 2014 Olympics. A real thriller and a real scandal.
Listen
Are you in the mood to dance, or are you in the mood for some lounging around the house vibes?
The former:
SG Lewis
Rarely do you find an artist who really has his own sound, but SG Lewis has one at the intersection of house, techno, and pop. His newest single, “Chemicals,” has one of the crazier music videos you’ll see.
Ta-Ku
Great music for relaxing or working—or you can just use his albums for what their titles suggest: “Songs to Break Up To” and “Songs to Make Up To.”
Cook
Berry Buttermilk Cake
I seriously cannot sufficiently underscore how good this cake is. Perfectly sweet from the berries, and rich and tangy from the buttermilk. Good for dessert or an unhealthy snack.
Granola
If you don’t want to make another Trader Joe’s run (perish the thought) and want to try your hand at making your own granola, try this out.
See you next week!
—Charlie & Meital