Substack, the ideal platform for the era of culture wars
With 50 million users, the site, launched in 2017, offers writers and journalists the opportunity to publish newsletters to their subscribers. The principle allows for welcome flexibility and freedom of tone, but tends to reinforce readership isolation, notes the Belgian newspaper De Standaard.
In these times, where on earth can you find a space on the Internet conducive to constructive exchanges and new ideas, a space where you feel you belong to the same community?
Facebook is flooded with incongruous AI-generated images. Twitter , under the name X and under the influence of Elon Musk, has transformed into a dumping ground for far-right hoaxes and abominations. And who has time to watch endless YouTube videos anymore?
“We need quality platforms where serious people can speak, and where debates and contradictory political discussions can take place,” notes technology entrepreneur Hamish McKenzie.
Its platform, Substack , aims to meet this need: a remarkable number of authors, journalists and media figures, including some big names like Margaret Atwood [Canadian novelist, author of The Handmaid's Tale ] or Timothy Snyder [American historian specializing in the Holocaust], use it to publish their latest works or to discuss with their audience.
Founded in 2017 by Hamish McKenzie, Chris Best and Jairaj Sethi, this platform allows writers and journalists to
The Standard (Brussels)Launched in 1918, the leading newspaper of the Flemish establishment gradually distanced itself from the Catholic world as well as the Flemish movement – and, more specifically, from the Flemish Christian Social Party, in power in Belgium from 1945 to 1999.
From its first issue on 4 December 1918, the top of the front page featured a cross forming the letters AVV-VVK ( “Alles voor Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen voor Christus”, “All for Flanders, Flanders for Christ”). This reference was removed in 1999 in order to give the magazine a new look and rejuvenate its readership.
De Standaard , which aims to provide “reliable, independent and high-quality” information, undertook a major overhaul in 2007: it reduced its format, modernized its graphic identity and adapted to the digital context.
Courrier International
