<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></title><description><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></description><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com</link><image><url>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/img/substack.png</url><title>Unembedded | Raja Althaibani</title><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 19:09:19 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Raja Althaibani]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[rajaalthaibani@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[rajaalthaibani@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[rajaalthaibani@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[rajaalthaibani@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Killing Spectacle (Part 1- Continued): Framing the Story — Two Bonus Shifts Before You Report on Online Harm, Extremism, and AI abuse]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why virality lies, why single incidents distort, and how to report scale before the platform assigns the story for you]]></description><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 14:55:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png" width="1165" height="1350" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1350,&quot;width&quot;:1165,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:3012911,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195528448?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1efo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3063ee16-ba77-40ca-8590-a6685fed4537_1165x1350.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Five acrobats on three horses, chromolithograph art in Blue (Adapted by Raja Althaibani) (Original Source: Original public domain image from Library of Congress)</figcaption></figure></div><blockquote><p><em>Part 1 covered the first three shifts media practitioners should make before reporting&#8212; pitch the system, report the consequence, center the burden-bearers. Here are two more bonus shifts to carry with you.</em> <em>Because I care, and because I want us to win.</em> </p><p><em>From</em> Killing Spectacle: 15 Shifts for Reporting on Online Harm and Extremism, <em>a guide for journalists, editors, producers, researchers, and media practitioners. Published here in parts. Each installment stands alone. The full picture builds across the series.</em></p><p><em>Start here: <a href="#">Part 1: Frame the Story Right </a>.</em></p></blockquote><p></p><p>Here are two more shifts to make in our daily practice to help us kill the &#8216;spectacle&#8217; in &#8216;spectacle journalism&#8217;.</p><p>My first piece <a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report">published here</a> covered first three mindset and technical shifts, before reporting: pitch the system not the spectacle, report consequence not conflict, center the burden-bearers not the perpetrators. Those shifts are about what story you&#8217;re telling and whose experience is at the center of it.</p><p>These two are about something that happens before any of that, reading the information environment you&#8217;re working inside before you let it assign the story for you.</p><p>On beats covering online harm, extremism, and AI abuse, the platform is not a neutral surface. It is an active editorial force. It decides what looks significant. It manufactures the appearance of consensus. It makes fringe content look mainstream and widespread harm look marginal. Journalists who don&#8217;t account for that are not reporting reality. They are reporting the platform&#8217;s version of reality, which is designed, in specific and documented ways, to serve interests other than public understanding.</p><p>These two shifts are about closing that gap before the first word is written, or first raw video is collected, edited, or clipped.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Shift 4: Virality is evidence of distribution, not importance</strong></h2><blockquote><p><em><strong>Unlearn</strong>: Treat trending content as proof that something matters.</em></p><p><em><strong>Relearn</strong>: Virality tells you something was distributed at scale. It tells you almost nothing about whether it reflects reality.</em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>One of the most corrosive habits in covering online harm and extremism is treating visibility as proof. A piece of content goes viral. It appears in your feed, your editor&#8217;s feed, your source&#8217;s feed. It feels significant because it is everywhere.</p><p>But everywhere on a platform is an editorial decision made by an algorithm, not a measure of cultural reality, social consensus, or genuine threat. Platforms are built to surface conflict and blur the line between significance and visibility. Journalism walks straight into that trap when it treats the trending tab as an assignment editor.</p><p>Urgency and importance are not the same thing. A piece of content can reach ten million people and reflect almost nothing about how those people actually think, behave, or live. A pattern that affects millions can be entirely invisible on a platform because it doesn&#8217;t produce the engagement mechanics that make content travel.</p><p><em><strong>The shift is learning to ask:</strong></em> </p><blockquote><p><em>is this visible because it is significant, or does it seem significant because it is visible?</em></p></blockquote><p><em><strong>What this looks like in practice</strong></em></p><p>The 2024 <a href="https://www.economist.com/culture/2024/05/15/tradwives-the-real-housewives-of-the-internet-have-gone-viral">tradwife surge</a> looked, from inside the feed, like a mass cultural shift: a generation of women returning to domestic roles. Mainstream coverage treated it that way. <a href="https://lens.monash.edu/recommending-the-manosphere-how-algorithms-amplify-antifeminist-masculinities/">Research</a> from Monash University and the International Journal of Communication found <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/24706">no evidence </a>of that in behavioral data. What the data showed was that recommendation algorithms were artificially <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/27/tiktoks-algorithm-is-highly-sensitive-and-could-send-you-down-a-hate-filled-rabbit-hole-before-you-know-it">funneling users </a>toward increasingly extreme gender content. The trend didn&#8217;t reflect what women wanted. It reflected what the platform rewarded and amplified. Reporting it as a cultural shift normalized extremist content through perceived popularity, exactly the outcome the amplification was designed to produce.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp" width="1280" height="720" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/c8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:720,&quot;width&quot;:1280,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:114826,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195528448?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SrNC!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc8a5d339-a4ed-4c9a-995f-85c2dcd723bc_1280x720.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Stills from videos showing Hannah Neeleman making food and milking a cow. (Photo: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ballerinafarm/">ballerinafarm</a> via The Economist)</figcaption></figure></div><p>The same failure appears constantly on extremism beats. Coordinated seeding makes fringe content look mainstream. Manufactured outrage cycles make marginal figures look culturally significant. The platform&#8217;s engagement mechanics are not neutral. They are specifically designed to surface the most inflammatory version of any story. Treating that surface as reality is a reporting failure, not just an editorial one.</p><p><em><strong>Editorial test:</strong></em></p><blockquote><p><em>If this were not trending, would you still assign it?</em> </p></blockquote><p>If the answer is no, you are covering distribution, not reality. </p><blockquote><p><em>If this incident had never been filmed, clipped, or algorithmically amplified, would it still matter?</em> </p></blockquote><p>If the answer is yes, that is where the story begins.</p><p><em><strong>Field note on extremism and online harm beats specifically:</strong></em></p><p>On these beats the virality problem is often deliberate, not incidental. Bad actors engineer viral moments specifically to manufacture the appearance of consensus, to make a fringe position look mainstream, a marginal figure look culturally dominant, an isolated incident look like a pattern. The tradwife surge was organic platform mechanics producing a distorted picture. Coordinated extremist content seeding is the same distortion produced intentionally. </p><p><em><strong>The verification question is the same in both cases:</strong></em> </p><blockquote><p><em>is this visible because it is significant, or significant because it is visible?</em></p></blockquote><p>Before escalating any trending story on these beats, ask whether the spike is organic or cluster-driven. The answer changes what you&#8217;re actually covering.</p><h2>Toolkit 4: Auditing virality before you escalate</h2><p>Before escalating any trending story, run this test: </p><blockquote><p><em>Does this affect policy, safety, public resources, or a meaningful number of people beyond the feed?</em> </p></blockquote><p>If not, you are covering distribution.</p><p>For checking whether a spike is organic or coordinated: <a href="https://ati.io/junkipedia/">Junkipedia</a> tracks coordinated inauthentic behavior and platform manipulation; the <a href="https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/">Stanford Internet Observatory</a> publishes platform-specific research on amplification mechanics; CrowdTangle (now <a href="https://transparency.meta.com/researchtools/meta-content-library/">Meta Content Library</a>) and <a href="https://www.brandwatch.com/">Brandwatch</a> track cross-platform spread patterns.</p><p>For situating platform trends in behavioral reality: look for data that exists outside the platform such as surveys, behavioral research, policy data, academic studies that either corroborates or contradicts what the platform surface suggests. <a href="https://www.monash.edu/indonesia/our-research/data-democracy-research-hub">Monash University&#8217;s platform research</a> and the Reuters Institute&#8217;s Digital News Report are both useful starting points for <a href="https://www.monash.edu/emerging-tech-research-lab/research/projects/centre-for-excellence-automated-decision-making-and-society">cross-referencing platform </a>visibility against real-world data. Also check out Bellingcat&#8217;s<a href="https://bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit"> Online Investigation Toolkit</a>.</p><p>Newsworthiness test before escalating any trend: </p><blockquote><p><em>does this have policy effects, safety implications, measurable behavioral uptake, or institutional consequences outside the platform?</em> </p></blockquote><p>If it scores zero on all four, it is a distribution story, not a significance story.</p><p><em>See my full guide and series for the deeper breakdown of this case and related tools.</em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png" width="1328" height="908" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:908,&quot;width&quot;:1328,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:226882,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195528448?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!5sjT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1fe5655e-27c8-4b23-a5a5-1214bd56d2e9_1328x908.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">(Source: Junkipedia)</figcaption></figure></div><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Share this toolkit with a friend or peer.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Shift 5: Situate the incident in the pattern</strong></h2><blockquote><p><strong>Unlearn</strong>: Let one vivid case carry the argument about scale.</p><p><strong>Relearn</strong>: Every incident needs a baseline, a trend line, and proportionality ( in both directions).</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>One vivid case can distort an entire public conversation. This happens constantly in coverage of online harm, extremism, and AI abuse: a single incident is treated as a trend, a trend is treated as a crisis, a crisis is reported without baseline data. Audiences end up with inflated fear, or false reassurance, and no way to judge what is actually escalating versus what is simply newly visible.</p><p>The proportionality failure runs in both directions, and both directions cause harm.</p><p>Inflating rare incidents produces moral panic, bad policy, and the kind of fear that bad actors deliberately manufacture. Minimizing widespread patterns produces public blindness to structural harm that is hiding in plain sight. Both failures serve bad actors: the first by manufacturing urgency around marginal threats, the second by providing cover for systemic ones.</p><p>Reporting the pattern means reporting both directions with equal rigor. How common is this, really? Is it rising, falling, or newly visible? Is this incident exceptional or representative? What would a reader need to know to make an accurate judgment about the scale and nature of the harm?</p><p><em><strong>What this looks like in practice</strong></em></p><p>Coverage of incel-linked violence regularly treats isolated attacks as evidence of a mass movement, inflating a rare incident into a pattern that the data doesn&#8217;t support. Coverage of Andrew Tate&#8217;s reach did the inverse: the <a href="https://hopenothate.org.uk">Hope Not Hate</a> finding that 8 in 10 boys aged 16 to 17 had <a href="https://hopenothate.org.uk/andrew-tate/">seen his material,</a> and the <a href="https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/47419-one-in-six-boys-aged-6-15-have-a-positive-view-of-andrew-tate">YouGov finding</a> that 1 in 6 boys aged 6 to 15 held a positive view of him, were treated as fringe statistics in coverage that hadn&#8217;t done the work of situating the numbers. That is not a fringe statistic. Reporting it as one was a failure of proportionality in the opposite direction, minimizing a documented, widespread pattern because the number was uncomfortable to report at its actual scale.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png" width="1440" height="922" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:922,&quot;width&quot;:1440,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:153252,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195528448?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uE6B!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7ae3a9b5-100a-404b-8c35-ee456e2ba7d5_1440x922.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>The <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/records/9912-crime-data">Marshall Project</a>&#8217;s context-first reporting on crime data is the model for how to do this right: every incident is situated in the baseline, every trend is measured against historical data, and the story names clearly what the data shows and what it doesn&#8217;t. One dramatic incident never distorts the national picture because the national picture is always present in the reporting.</p><p><em><strong>Editorial test:</strong></em></p><blockquote><p><em>Are you showing readers where this event sits in the real pattern &#8212; or are you allowing vividness to substitute for scale? Can you state, specifically: is this incident typical, exceptional, rising, falling, or simply newly visible?</em> </p></blockquote><p>If you can&#8217;t answer that question before you file, the context is missing.</p><p><em><strong>Field note on these beats specifically:</strong></em></p><p>The proportionality question is weaponized on both sides of these beats. Extremist actors <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/08/narcissism-terrorism-violence-monis-breivik-lubitz-jihadi-john">inflate their own significance</a> to appear more powerful and culturally dominant than they are. Treat their visibility claims with the same skepticism you&#8217;d apply to any source with an incentive to exaggerate. Platform harm is simultaneously minimized by the institutions that produce it. Treat their framing of harm as marginal or exceptional with the same skepticism. Your job is to find the actual baseline, which usually requires going outside the platform, outside the institution, and outside the most visible sources on both sides.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif" width="724" height="434.4" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/f32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:372,&quot;width&quot;:620,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:724,&quot;bytes&quot;:7663,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/avif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195528448?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!9BYQ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff32558b4-82aa-4797-9b49-6373795d24fd_620x372.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Fatally flawed &#8230; Jihadi John, Andreas Lubitz, Man Haron Monis and Anders Breivik. Photomontage: Andrew Stocks via <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/08/narcissism-terrorism-violence-monis-breivik-lubitz-jihadi-john">The Gaurdian </a></figcaption></figure></div><p>Use the context box. Add this to every spike story and every incident report on these beats:</p><ul><li><p>Baseline: what is the normal rate or scale of this type of incident or behavior?</p></li><li><p>Trend line: is this rising, falling, stable, or newly visible? </p></li><li><p>Rarity: is this exceptional or representative? </p></li><li><p>Responsible inference: what can we actually conclude from this data, and what would we need to establish what we can&#8217;t yet conclude?</p></li></ul><p>That box, applied consistently, prevents a single dramatic case from doing the work that evidence should do.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png" width="1024" height="1536" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4QUR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3437568e-6624-48f8-a0e1-de721614a42c_1024x1536.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h2>Toolkit 5: Context tools for situating incidents in pattern</h2><p>For baseline and trend line data on online harm and extremism: t<a href="https://gnet-research.org/">he Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) </a>publishes research specifically designed to provide contextual data for journalists; the <a href="https://counterhate.com/">Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH)</a> tracks platform harm at scale; Hope Not Hate&#8217;s annual <a href="https://hopenothate.org.uk/state-of-hate-2026/">State of Hate report </a>provides UK and European baseline data on extremism reach and penetration.</p><p>For AI harm and platform data: the <a href="https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/">Stanford Internet Observatory</a>, the <a href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/">Oxford Internet Institute</a>, and the <a href="https://www.turing.ac.uk/">Alan Turing Institute</a> all publish research that provides the baseline data most platform coverage lacks. Use them before you file, not after.</p><p>For proportionality in both directions: the Context Box above. Apply it to every spike story. If you can&#8217;t fill in all four fields, you don&#8217;t have enough information to report the incident as evidence of a pattern.</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>Pro tip:</strong></em>  add the context box to every spike story: baseline, trend line, rarity, and what we can responsibly infer. It takes ten minutes and prevents the single most common framing failure on these beats.</p></blockquote><p><em>See my full guide and series for the deeper breakdown of this case and related tools.</em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png" width="1080" height="1080" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iLmg!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbc3acede-d21c-47c5-be14-265e46413252_1080x1080.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Share this toolkit with a friend or peer.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div><hr></div><h2>What these two shifts have in common, and how they complete Phase 1 (shifts and tips before reporting)</h2><blockquote><p>Both shifts are about the same underlying discipline: not letting the platform assign your story.</p><p>Shift 4 asks whether what is visible is actually significant. Shift 5 asks whether what is significant is being accurately sized. Together they close the two most common framing failures on these beats: treating virality as cultural evidence, and treating a single incident as proof of a pattern.</p><p>Combined with the<a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report"> first three shifts,</a> Phase 1 is now complete. You know what story you&#8217;re telling (the system, not the spectacle), whose experience is at the center (the burden-bearers, not the perpetrators), what you&#8217;re following (consequence, not conflict), whether the platform signal is real (Shift 4), and whether the scale is accurate (Shift 5).</p><p>Phase 2 begins where Phase 1 ends. Once you know what you&#8217;re covering, how you gather and weigh evidence determines everything.</p><p>Please share your favorite tips and any additional shifts you think we should be making as media and human rights practitioners reporting on online harm. The shifts, tips and toolkits in this series are non-exhaustive, and are serve as a launching pad for this community, which includes YOU, to extract from as well as contribute to. </p><p>Because we care. And because we want to win. Collectively. </p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h2>The Field</h2><p>The practices above are easier to sustain inside a community of people working on the same problems than alone. That&#8217;s what <em><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/p-195151579">The Field</a></em><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/p-195151579"> </a>is: a cross-sector community of practice for journalists, researchers, advocates, lawyers, and technologists working at this intersection, built on the principle that the people with the most situational knowledge are often those with the least institutional power, and that better practice requires closing that gap deliberately. If this is your beat, wherever you are, it&#8217;s yours to join.</p><p><em>Join The Field: Fill out the <a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1UdPjVZFSSDOGejDFL84ALkYJS7KpdNUYZClWgVMuWuQ/edit">intake form</a> or reach out to me directly at <a href="mailto:inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com">inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com</a></em></p><div><hr></div><h2>The Frontier</h2><p>Phase 1&#8217;s specific frontier question is the platform transparency problem: you can&#8217;t accurately situate incidents in pattern or audit virality if the platforms controlling the data don&#8217;t share it. Shifts 4 and 5 both require external data sources precisely because platform data is inaccessible, unreliable, or strategically curated. The EU Digital Services Act and US platform accountability efforts are the most significant structural responses to this problem, and both are currently contested, partially implemented, and under pressure. Naming that gap is part of what this guide does. Closing it requires more than better journalism. It requires platform accountability infrastructure that doesn&#8217;t yet exist at the scale these beats require.</p><div><hr></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>Up next &#8212; Killing Spectacle, Part 2: Rigor Without Cruelty</strong></em></p></blockquote><p>Phase 1 is complete. Phase 2 is where the frame you built either holds or falls apart.</p><p>How to verify claims in spaces designed to mislead &#8212; including how to slow down when emotion spikes and bad actors are deliberately manufacturing urgency. How to build an evidence hierarchy rather than a transcript of competing claims. And how to use AI to see what only becomes visible at scale, rather than to produce faster noise.</p><p>Part 2 is where the craft gets specific. The frame is only as good as what you can prove.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>If this is your beat &#8212; or someone you edit, teach, or commission &#8212;send it directly and invite them to join The Field. The journalists and media practitioners who need this most are rarely the ones looking for it.</em></p><p><em>These aren&#8217;t universal rules. They&#8217;re practices drawn from years in this space. What works in a long-form investigation won&#8217;t always survive a breaking news brief. Context matters. This guide is a conversation,  leave a comment or reach me directly with what&#8217;s missing and what works. What&#8217;s useful goes into the guide, with credit.</em></p><div><hr></div><div class="image-gallery-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;gallery&quot;:{&quot;images&quot;:[{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1e3e58a0-2996-44cd-8a6b-0b577b599857_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;}],&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;staticGalleryImage&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1e3e58a0-2996-44cd-8a6b-0b577b599857_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;}},&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><p></p><p><strong>About the author.</strong> Raja Althaibani is an advisor, strategist, and trainer working at the intersection of human rights, media systems, digital evidence, and emerging technology. With over 15 years of experience across the Middle East, North Africa, and the United States, she has worked with journalists, civil society organizations, and international institutions to document harm, build accountability processes, and adapt human rights practice to shifting technological and political realities. She previously worked at WITNESS, the human rights organization specializing in video and digital documentation. She is the founder of Arab Hyphenated.</p><p>She writes <em>Unembedded</em>, which includes the ongoing series <em>The Safari Is Over</em>, and founded The Field, a cross-sector community of practice for journalists, researchers, advocates, and technical practitioners working on these beats.</p><p><a href="mailto:inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com">inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com</a> &#183; <a href="http://www.rajaalthaibani.com">www.rajaalthaibani.com</a> &#183; <a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/p-195151579">Join The Field</a></p><p><em>killing spectacle | media guide | virality | platform accountability | online harm | extremism | framing | Raja Althaibani</em></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Killing the Spectacle — Tip 1: Pitch the System, Not the Spectacle ]]></title><description><![CDATA[[Infographic] One of 15 shifts (tips) for journalists, editors, and practitioners covering online harm, extremism, and AI.]]></description><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-the-spectacle-tip-1-pitch</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-the-spectacle-tip-1-pitch</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2026 14:03:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iGAG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c4de9a5-2841-46d3-8251-18801e175613_1080x1440.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iGAG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c4de9a5-2841-46d3-8251-18801e175613_1080x1440.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iGAG!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c4de9a5-2841-46d3-8251-18801e175613_1080x1440.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iGAG!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c4de9a5-2841-46d3-8251-18801e175613_1080x1440.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iGAG!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c4de9a5-2841-46d3-8251-18801e175613_1080x1440.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iGAG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c4de9a5-2841-46d3-8251-18801e175613_1080x1440.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!iGAG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3c4de9a5-2841-46d3-8251-18801e175613_1080x1440.png" width="1080" height="1440" 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src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg" width="310" height="387.5" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1350,&quot;width&quot;:1080,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:310,&quot;bytes&quot;:226744,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/193489262?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec6f30ea-d0f6-4f62-8174-641f8ca17465_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Raja Althaibani" title="Raja Althaibani" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><blockquote><p><strong>About the Author</strong></p><p>Raja is a systems, accountability, and media strategist focused on the intersection of ethics, emerging technology, and democratic utility. With a background in human rights and digital evidence, Raja advises global institutions and develops capacity-building frameworks that translate emerging tech innovations into real-world practice. She architects <em>Communities of Practice</em> (CoP) designed to bridge the gap between data scientists, advocates, and newsrooms&#8212;building the resilient, public-interest media ecosystems required to sustain democratic life, and leverage emerging opportunities and defend against future threats.</p><p>She writes <em><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani">Unembedded</a></em>&#8212;long-form analysis, reported essays, practical guides, and field frameworks on media, power, harm, and who controls the story. It publishes original reporting, case studies, curated resources, tools and templates for practitioners, and research and reading lists across the beats it covers.</p><p><em>Unembedded</em> includes two ongoing series: <em><a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/announcing-a-new-series-the-safari?selectQuote=true">The Safari Is Over</a></em>&#8212;on how media covers harm, extremism, and algorithmic culture, and what better practice looks like&#8212; and <em><a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">The Field</a> Dispatch</em>, the working intelligence arm of <em><a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">The Field</a></em> community of practice. She is the founder of <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">The Field</a>.</p><p><em>Work with Raja: <a href="mailto:inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com">inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com</a> or via <a href="https://www.rajaalthaibani.com/contact-raja">contact form</a></em>;<em> and website <a href="http://www.rajaalthaibani.com">www.rajaalthaibani.com</a> </em></p></blockquote><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Field: A Community of Practice for People Working at the Hard Edge of Media, Harm, and Accountability]]></title><description><![CDATA[What it is, who it's for, and how to join.]]></description><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:03:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!21vY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbf0b36c4-39ec-4505-8edb-d669dd121c98_4288x2848.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="image-gallery-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;gallery&quot;:{&quot;images&quot;:[{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bf0b36c4-39ec-4505-8edb-d669dd121c98_4288x2848.jpeg&quot;}],&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Citizen Journalists (Sana'a Yemen, 2011) &quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Raja althaibani Yemen Sana'a Revolution Activists Journalists Protests &quot;,&quot;staticGalleryImage&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bf0b36c4-39ec-4505-8edb-d669dd121c98_4288x2848.jpeg&quot;}},&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><p>The problems at the intersection of media, online harm, technology, and accountability don't respect disciplinary boundaries. Neither should the people working on them.</p><p>A journalist investigating an extremist network needs to understand platform infrastructure. A human rights lawyer building a case around digital evidence needs to understand how that evidence was collected and verified. A technologist building tools for open-source investigation needs to understand what practitioners in conflict zones can actually access and use. A researcher documenting online abuse needs to understand how newsrooms make editorial decisions, and what gets lost in translation between the field and the published piece. And a community documentarian on the ground needs to understand how her work will travel once it leaves her hands: who will interpret it, in what context, and toward what end.</p><p>These people rarely work together in any sustained way. The communities of practice<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a> that exist are largely siloed: by discipline, by geography and language, by institution, and by the structural imbalances that have long shaped who gets to lead, contribute, and be heard in this space.</p><p><em>The Field</em> exists to change that.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>What </strong><em><strong>The Field</strong></em><strong> is</strong></h2><p><em>The Field</em> is a cross-sector community of practice (CoP)<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-2" href="#footnote-2" target="_self">2</a>, global from the start, for journalists, researchers, advocates, lawyers, and technical practitioners working at the intersection of media, harm, technology, and accountability.</p><p>It was founded on a simple argument: that the existing community of practice in this space is fractured, skewed toward Global North institutions, and structurally extractive toward the practitioners with the most situational knowledge and the least institutional power. That better outcomes&#8212; better journalism, stronger accountability, more effective tools, more durable practice require deliberate, unblocked collaboration across the full spectrum of the field.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-3" href="#footnote-3" target="_self">3</a></p><p>This is not a network. It&#8217;s a working community co-created, contribution-led, and designed to be less monopolized, more inclusive, and genuinely global. </p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>What </strong><em><strong>The Field</strong></em><strong> does</strong></h2><p><em>The Field</em> brings together practitioners to:</p><ul><li><p><strong>Build shared knowledge</strong> across disciplines, geographies, and languages so that the journalist, the lawyer, the researcher, and the technologist are working from the same foundation rather than talking past each other.</p></li><li><p><strong>Develop practical frameworks and field guidance</strong> including methodologies, tools, and resources that are actually usable by the full range of people doing this work, not just those with institutional backing and Global North infrastructure.</p></li><li><p><strong>Strengthen the work that holds systems accountable</strong> by centering practitioners with situational knowledge, reducing extractive dynamics, and creating conditions for collaboration that is fair, equitable, and genuinely useful.</p></li><li><p><strong>Build a community of practice that lasts</strong> by connecting practitioners across sectors and geographies who are doing this work, sharing what they know, and building something more durable than any single investigation, report, or news cycle.</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Who it&#8217;s for</strong></h2><p>If you work in any of the following, wherever you are in the world, <em>The Field</em> is for you:</p><p>Journalism and editorial practice &#183; Open-source investigation and digital evidence &#183; Human rights documentation and advocacy &#183; International law and accountability &#183; Disinformation and information disorder research &#183; Platform policy and tech accountability &#183; AI, emerging technology, and public interest practice &#183; Media training and capacity building</p><p>This includes, and deliberately centers, practitioners from the so-called Global South (Global Majority), diaspora communities, and those working in and on conflict-affected and underrepresented contexts. The people closest to the harm are the ones this field most needs to hear from.</p><p>You don&#8217;t need an institutional affiliation. You don&#8217;t need to be based in a Global North city. You need to be doing the work, or building toward it.</p><div><hr></div><blockquote><p><em><strong>Further Reading</strong></em></p><p><em>The Field builds on arguments first made here: <a href="https://opiniojuris.org/2023/02/07/symposium-on-fairness-equality-and-diversity-in-open-source-investigations-the-case-to-renew-community-of-practice-for-the-open-source-investigative-field/">The Case To (Re)new Community of Practice for the Open Source Investigative Field</a> &#8212; Symposium on Fairness, Equality, and Diversity in Open Source Investigations, OpinioJuris.</em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h2><strong>How to join</strong></h2><p><em>The Field</em> is in its founding phase. This is the moment to get in early, shape what it becomes, and connect with the first cohort of practitioners building it together.</p><p>To join or express interest:</p><blockquote><p><em>Fill in the intake <a href="https://forms.gle/4TkADNG3WH9RZErBA">form here</a></em> </p></blockquote><blockquote><p><em>Reach out directly: <a href="mailto:inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com">inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com</a></em> <em>; Or leave a comment below.</em></p></blockquote><p>Tell us who you are, what you work on, where you&#8217;re based, and what you think The Field needs to do. That information will directly shape how the community is built.</p><p>There is no membership fee. No institutional gatekeeping. No prerequisite except the work.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>The Field was founded by <a href="https://www.rajaalthaibani.com/">Raja Althaibani</a>. Read her work at <a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani">Unembedded</a>.</em></p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg" width="298" height="372.5" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1350,&quot;width&quot;:1080,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:298,&quot;bytes&quot;:226744,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/193489262?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec6f30ea-d0f6-4f62-8174-641f8ca17465_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Raja Althaibani" title="Raja Althaibani" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h2><strong>About the Author</strong></h2><p>Raja Althaibani works at the intersection of media, harm, technology, and accountability&#8212; advising, training, writing, investigating, and building the infrastructure that helps practitioners and institutions respond to an information landscape that moves faster than most frameworks can follow.</p><p>Her background spans human rights, journalism, international law and accountability, and open-source digital documentation. She works with journalists, editors, researchers, lawyers, advocates, technologists, and institutions across sectors and geographies, advising on online harm, information disorder, and emerging technology; training practitioners to work with greater rigor and judgment; and building cross-sector communities and tools designed to make the field stronger, more inclusive, and less extractive.</p><p>Her work is defined by one consistent thread: closing the gap between complex systems and the people who need to understand, navigate, and hold them accountable.</p><p>She writes <em><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani">Unembedded</a></em>&#8212;long-form analysis, reported essays, practical guides, and field frameworks on media, power, harm, and who controls the story. It publishes original reporting, case studies, curated resources, tools and templates for practitioners, and research and reading lists across the beats it covers.</p><p><em>Unembedded</em> includes two ongoing series: <em><a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/announcing-a-new-series-the-safari?selectQuote=true">The Safari Is Over</a></em>&#8212;on how media covers harm, extremism, and algorithmic culture, and what better practice looks like&#8212; and <em>The Field Dispatch</em>, the working intelligence arm of <em>The Field</em> community of practice. She is the founder of <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">The Field</a>.</p><blockquote><p><em>Work with Raja: <a href="mailto:inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com">inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com</a> or via <a href="https://www.rajaalthaibani.com/contact-raja">contact form</a></em>;<em> and website <a href="http://www.rajaalthaibani.com">www.rajaalthaibani.com</a> </em></p></blockquote><p></p><div class="community-chat" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/chat?utm_source=chat_embed&quot;,&quot;subdomain&quot;:&quot;rajaalthaibani&quot;,&quot;pub&quot;:{&quot;id&quot;:8421323,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;author_name&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;author_photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!JLv-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4c79c4f9-ac9c-46fb-950d-075196b01aab_997x998.png&quot;}}" data-component-name="CommunityChatRenderPlaceholder"></div><p></p><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-1" href="#footnote-anchor-1" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">1</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>&#8220;Community of practice&#8221; refers to a group of people who share a craft or profession and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. The concept was developed by Etienne Wenger and Jean Lave. <em>The Field</em> extends this definition: an interdisciplinary, cross-sector community explicitly designed to challenge the status quo, disrupt extractive dynamics, and advance collective practice&#8212;including the tools, technologies, and institutional architectures that shape how this work gets done and who gets to do it.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-2" href="#footnote-anchor-2" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">2</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>The CORAL Network (Red CORAL) is a Latin American community of practice bringing together land defenders, indigenous communities, and open-source practitioners. <a href="https://redcoral.la">redcoral.la</a></p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-3" href="#footnote-anchor-3" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">3</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>This argument is developed in full in: Raja Althaibani, Libby McAvoy, and Dalila Mujagic, <a href="https://opiniojuris.org/2023/02/07/symposium-on-fairness-equality-and-diversity-in-open-source-investigations-the-case-to-renew-community-of-practice-for-the-open-source-investigative-field/">The Case To (Re)new Community of Practice for the Open Source Investigative Field</a>, OpinioJuris, February 2023.</p><p></p><p></p></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Killing Spectacle (Part 1): Three shifts for journalists reporting on online harm and extremism]]></title><description><![CDATA[[Shifts 1&#8211;3 of 15] Frame the story right: pitch the system, report the consequence, center the burden-bearers.]]></description><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 02:01:17 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1wxz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fde026e-7332-4448-b404-71c11551ab8c_1058x1201.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1wxz!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fde026e-7332-4448-b404-71c11551ab8c_1058x1201.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1wxz!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fde026e-7332-4448-b404-71c11551ab8c_1058x1201.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1wxz!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fde026e-7332-4448-b404-71c11551ab8c_1058x1201.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1wxz!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fde026e-7332-4448-b404-71c11551ab8c_1058x1201.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1wxz!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fde026e-7332-4448-b404-71c11551ab8c_1058x1201.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!1wxz!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8fde026e-7332-4448-b404-71c11551ab8c_1058x1201.jpeg" width="1058" height="1201" 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class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"><em>(Source: Two acrobats, aesthetic chiaroscuro woodcut. Original public domain image from the Library of Congress.)</em></figcaption></figure></div><blockquote><p><em>From</em> <em><strong>Killing Spectacle: 15 Shifts for Reporting on Online Harm and Extremism,</strong></em> <em>a guide for journalists, editors, producers, researchers, and media practitioners. <a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/posts">Published </a> here in parts. Each installment stands alone. The full picture builds across the series.</em></p><p><em>Killing Spectacle is part of</em> &#8216;<em>The <a href="http://The Safari Is Over">Safari Is Over</a>&#8217;,</em> <em>an ongoing series on media, harm, and the information landscape.</em></p></blockquote><p>There&#8217;s a moment most journalists on this beat recognize, even if they don&#8217;t name it.</p><p>You&#8217;re pitching a story about a harmful online community, an AI abuse case, a radicalization pipeline. And somewhere in the process, the story migrates toward its most watchable part. The clip. The personality. The confrontation. The thing that makes an editor say: <em>that.</em></p><p>It feels like journalism. It has texture and tension and a hook. But something has gone missing: the part that would actually change how the public understands what&#8217;s happening. The part that helps them identify where to direct action. </p><p>This guide is about that gap, and how to close it, deliberately.</p><div><hr></div><h4><strong>What this guide is and isn&#8217;t</strong></h4><p>These are practices, not rules, drawn from years in this space, watching what holds and what collapses under scrutiny. They&#8217;re also <em>shifts</em>: things we have to actively unlearn before you can replace them with something more useful. Most of the bad instincts on this beat aren&#8217;t careless. They&#8217;re trained. They got rewarded. They got pieces commissioned and clips shared and panels booked. Unlearning them requires naming them first.</p><p>This is also a living document and a conversation. If you work on these beats&#8212; as a journalist, researcher, advocate, lawyer, technologist&#8212; what&#8217;s missing and what works belongs in here. Leave a comment or reach out directly. Everything useful goes into the guide, with credit.</p><div><hr></div><h4><strong>How the full guide is structured</strong></h4><p>The 15 shifts are arranged across four phases: <em>Framing</em> (how you conceptualize and pitch the story before reporting begins), <em>Rigor</em> (how you verify and source in environments designed to mislead), <em>Structure</em> (how you shape and distribute the story without reproducing the harm), and <em>Sustained Practice</em> (how you protect and maintain this work inside institutions that don&#8217;t always reward it). The three shifts below are Phase 1. You don&#8217;t need to follow them sequentially, but the logic is cumulative, and each phase assumes the one before it.</p><div><hr></div><h4><strong>The question that runs through all 15 shifts</strong></h4><blockquote><p><em>Does this story increase public understanding, or does it redistribute attention?</em></p></blockquote><p>Redistributing attention is easy. It generates clicks, and it can feel like exposure. But it rarely changes anything. Public understanding is harder to produce and harder to sell. It&#8217;s also the only thing journalism in this space can offer that the algorithm can&#8217;t.</p><div><hr></div><h4><strong>What prompted this guide</strong> </h4><p>This guide didn&#8217;t come from one story. It came from a pattern.</p><p>There is a structural problem in how online harm, extremism, and algorithmic culture get covered, and it shows up across formats, platforms, and beats. It&#8217;s not about bad journalists and storytellers. It&#8217;s about the gravitational pull of certain types of stories: ones that arrive pre-loaded with conflict, personality, and outrage, and make spectacle feel like investigation.</p><p>You know these stories.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png" width="1456" height="809" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:809,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2705420,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!evCj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0f5bda46-2b95-42e6-bd40-bd38506a64e5_1822x1012.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">(Image: YouTube / Piers Morgan Uncensored)</figcaption></figure></div><p>The influencer radicalizing teenage boys, covered through his most inflammatory clips. The deepfake abuse case that leads with the viral moment and buries the policy vacuum. The AI system causing harm, reported as a curiosity rather than a systemic failure. The harassment campaign reconstructed around the abuser&#8217;s language rather than its cost to the target. The extremist community profiled through its most watchable members, never its recruitment infrastructure.</p><p>The Jihadi Johns and Andrew Tates&#8212;manufactured characters who understood exactly what the media would do with them, and built the spectacle, legitimacy, and reach they so desperately wanted accordingly. The alt-right figures who gamed outrage cycles to launder fringe ideology into mainstream debate. The misogynist podcasters whose revenue model runs on the very coverage claiming to expose them. The election disruptors who flood the zone knowing the correction will carry the lie further. The war crimes filmed and uploaded by perpetrators&#8212;&nbsp;state and non-state actors&#8212;because they knew journalists would distribute them.</p><p>In every case, the harmful actor understood the media environment better than the coverage did. And they know the media environment and its participants better than it knows itself.</p><p>These stories all have legitimate public interest at their core. The coverage often doesn&#8217;t find it because the spectacle is closer, faster, and easier to sell. That&#8217;s not a personal failure. It&#8217;s an editorial one.</p><p>And editorial choices can be made differently. This is a guide to making them differently: 15 shifts from spectacle-driven coverage to high-impact public interest reporting across online harm, extremism, AI, and algorithmic culture.</p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Shift 1: Pitch the system, not the spectacle</strong></h2><blockquote><p><strong>Unlearn:</strong> <em>Anchor the pitch to a personality or incident.</em></p><p><strong>Relearn:</strong> <em>Pitch the system the incident reveals.</em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>The most damaging instinct on this beat is reaching for a compelling figure or moment to sell a story. This is understandable, it&#8217;s how pitches get bought. But on beats involving harassment, extremism, or AI harm, incident-led coverage carries real costs: it re-traumatizes victims, amplifies the people causing harm, and normalizes what should remain structurally shocking. More practically: it produces stories that don&#8217;t survive the next news cycle. Incident-led coverage has a shelf life. System-led coverage has a subject.</p><p><em><strong>What this looks like in practice</strong></em></p><p>When AI-generated non-consensual images of a female student at a Louisiana middle school circulated last year, early coverage <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/11/11/us-news/louisiana-middle-schooler-expelled-after-striking-male-classmate-who-allegedly-shared-ai-generated-nude-photos-of-her/?">treated it as a conflict</a>: a fight, an expulsion, a drama between teenagers. Readable. Thin.</p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png" width="490" height="440.74957410562183" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1056,&quot;width&quot;:1174,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:490,&quot;bytes&quot;:337023,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F71e0acaa-eba6-4846-b57b-113a2a957781_1174x1234.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jm7l!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fbd868e84-2f8f-41b9-bb31-0c6a047165ff_1174x1056.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Source: New York Post, <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/11/11/us-news/louisiana-middle-schooler-expelled-after-striking-male-classmate-who-allegedly-shared-ai-generated-nude-photos-of-her/?">Published</a> November 11, 2025 </figcaption></figure></div><p>Stronger <a href="https://apnews.com/article/school-deepfake-nude-ai-cyberbullying-0ead324241cf390e1a7f3378853f23cb">reporting </a>reframed the same facts around a policy vacuum: schools were applying outdated cyberbullying frameworks to a new type of harm and deepfake technology those laws never contemplated. No mechanism existed to respond, discipline, or protect. The incident was the entry point. The institution was the story.</p><p>One version ages out when the next incident lands. The other stays useful to every educator, parent, and policymaker who encounters the same gap. By focusing on the public-interest frame over spectacle, 8 more students were identified as victims of the same abuse, revealing a critical lack of oversight and accountability.</p><p><em><strong>Editorial test:</strong></em> </p><blockquote><p><em>Can you name the failing institution, platform, or policy in your first two paragraphs? If the story falls apart without the viral moment, you&#8217;re chasing spectacle.</em></p></blockquote><p><em><strong>Pitch frame to keep nearby:</strong></em> </p><blockquote><p><em>The public needs to understand how [system] is responding to [harm] because it affects their ability to [protect themselves / hold someone accountable / make an informed decision].</em></p></blockquote><p><em><strong>Field note on AI and algorithmic beats specifically:</strong></em> </p><p>When a model or platform is implicated in harm, resist the pull toward anthropomorphizing the technology as the protagonist. The model isn&#8217;t the story. The decision to deploy it without safeguards, the gap between the terms of service and what the product actually does, the accountability structure that allowed the harm to scale, those are the story. Name the company. Name the design choice. Name the person who signed off.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp" width="1456" height="819" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/e3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:819,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:39604,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!7ybY!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3ea75dd-2196-44b2-9e23-907c16a99447_1536x864.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">A 13-year-old girl was expelled from her middle school after she struck a male student who was sharing AI-generated photos of her in the nude. The school board stood by her expulsion during a heated session on Nov. 5. The victim attended the meeting with her parents. Lafourche Parish School District</figcaption></figure></div><h3><strong>Toolkit 1: Pitching the system when editors want the story</strong></h3><p>Before pitching, build a one-page map of the system you're investigating: the institution, the policy gap, the harm pathway, the people absorbing the cost. <a href="https://kumu.io">Kumu</a> or a shared Miro board forces you to articulate the system before a word is written, and gives editors something concrete to look at beyond a clip or outrageous hook. AI-assisted document analysis (<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org">DocumentCloud Analyst</a>, <a href="https://aleph.occrp.org">OCCRP Aleph</a>) surfaces patterns across large document sets faster than manual reading. And maintain a running accountability file on the institutions on your beat (policy changes, enforcement actions, known gaps) so when an incident occurs, the system story is already half-reported. </p><p>*<em>See my full guide and series for the deeper breakdown of this case and related tools.</em></p><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"><strong>Share this toolkit with a friend or peer.</strong></p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Shift 2: Conflict is the delivery system. Consequence is the story.</strong></h2><blockquote><p><strong>Unlearn:</strong> <em>Let the most dramatic moment become the unit of analysis.</em></p><p><strong>Relearn:</strong> <em>Treat conflict as the delivery system. Report the consequence.</em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>Conflict generates heat, and heat generates clicks. But heat dissipates, and if you&#8217;ve only reported the confrontation, nothing survives the news cycle. </p><p>Covering consequence is different. Consequence is what changed. Who gained power, money, reach, or legitimacy. What the people most affected did next. How institutions responded or didn&#8217;t, or built in deniability so they wouldn&#8217;t have to.</p><p><em><strong>What this looks like in practice</strong></em></p><p>Podcast formats built around confrontation and humiliation, <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_and_Fit_Podcast">Fresh &amp; Fit</a></em>  being a <a href="https://thetab.com/2026/03/25/louis-theroux-and-myrons-wild-debates-on-his-podcast-that-werent-shown-in-the-netflix-doc">well-documented</a> case, tend to get covered through their worst and most outrageous clips. That coverage is reliable and easy to produce. It also explains nothing.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg" width="457" height="571.25" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1350,&quot;width&quot;:1080,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:457,&quot;bytes&quot;:303473,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!rDBT!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0877bb7d-bb4a-445f-a308-be8042d7ad4b_1080x1350.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Source: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BHWPLrAXv/">Thought Catalog</a></figcaption></figure></div><p>But it doesn&#8217;t explain anything. It doesn&#8217;t tell you how the format generates revenue, how engagement mechanics reward escalation, how humiliation becomes entertainment, or what that does to the young men watching. Consequence-led reporting asks: <em>what changed as a result of this?</em> Who built a platform, a business, a political foothold? Who lost their safety, their sense of what&#8217;s normal? <em>Who absorbed the cost?</em></p><p>That&#8217;s where the story lives.</p><p><em><strong>Editorial test:</strong></em> </p><blockquote><p><em>What happened after the conflict? Who gained, measurably (in reach, revenue, or legitimacy) and who absorbed the damage?</em> </p></blockquote><p>If you can&#8217;t answer both, the reporting isn&#8217;t finished.</p><p><em><strong>Field note</strong></em></p><p>Consequence is harder to report because it's often disaggregated and delayed. The influencer's revenue doesn't appear in the clip. The behavioral shift in the audience doesn't show up in the incident report. This is partly by design, platforms and bad actors alike benefit from keeping consequence invisible. Closing the gap requires a different sourcing strategy: researchers, platform transparency data, former employees, and the people most affected tracked over time, not quoted once. Phase 4 of this guide addresses the longitudinal obligation in full. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg" width="1200" height="630" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:630,&quot;width&quot;:1200,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:128878,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jJJ-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F60a1ee66-59aa-4071-8234-0070e43e6fc4_1200x630.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption"><strong>Fresh &amp; Fit  presenters and panelists on the podcast (Image via YouTube)</strong></figcaption></figure></div><h3><strong>Toolkit 2: Following consequence when platforms obscure it</strong></h3><p>For platform and influencer revenue: <a href="https://socialblade.com">Social Blade</a> tracks estimated YouTube and Twitch earnings; <a href="https://www.similarweb.com">SimilarWeb</a> tracks audience growth and traffic sources; <a href="https://opencorporates.com">OpenCorporates</a> surfaces corporate structures. For political influence: <a href="https://influencemap.org">InfluenceMap</a>. For moving from <em>"here's the personality"</em> to <em>"here's the infrastructure"</em>: <a href="https://gephi.org">Gephi</a> visualizes how content, accounts, and communities connect. For high-volume content beats, AI transcription (Whisper) and synthesis tools (NotebookLM) let you track rhetoric and escalation patterns across thousands of hours of material, the slow radicalization pipeline, not just the viral moment. And set calendar reminders at 3, 6, and 12 months after publication. The follow-up is itself a reporting method.</p><p>*<em>See my full guide and series for the deeper breakdown of this case and related tools.</em></p><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"><strong>Share this toolkit with a friend or peer.</strong></p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div><hr></div><h2><strong>Shift 3: Center the burden-bearers, not the perpetrators</strong></h2><blockquote><p><strong>Unlearn:</strong> <em>Let perpetrators set the terms of the story.</em></p><p><strong>Relearn:</strong> <em>Center the people who carry the long-term burden.</em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>This is the structural failure that runs deepest, and the one most resistant to change because it&#8217;s baked into how stories get told.</p><p>On extremism, harassment, and abuse beats, perpetrators routinely set the frame. They&#8217;re quotable, accessible, often actively seeking coverage and eager for attention. Victims and survivors appear later : as context, as reaction, as proof that something bad happened. That structure isn&#8217;t neutral. It reproduces the hierarchy of the harm itself.</p><p>Centering burden-bearers isn&#8217;t a fairness question. It&#8217;s a reporting accuracy question. The people who live with the long-tail consequences of these systems understand them differently, and often more completely, than the people producing them. Their testimony is evidence. Not color.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>What this looks like in practice</strong></em></p><p><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/03/online-violence-against-women-chapter-1-1/">Amnesty International's </a><em><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/03/online-violence-against-women-chapter-1-1/">Toxic Twitter</a></em><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/03/online-violence-against-women-chapter-1-1/"> </a> research didn&#8217;t focus on what abusers said, it focused on what the abuse <em>cost</em>. Women changed how they used platforms. Many withdrew from public life online. Some feared for their physical safety offline. The damage was measurable, documented, and largely absent from coverage that kept returning to perpetrators and their rhetoric. That research made harm legible in terms institutions could act on. It named the hidden tax. It showed the invisible majority.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg" width="1080" height="1080" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1080,&quot;width&quot;:1080,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:135426,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!-Pig!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5d9d8cd4-b4d9-49c9-868e-5bce6245a64b_1080x1080.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">(Source: Amnesty International&#8217;s Toxic Twitter)</figcaption></figure></div><p></p><p><em><strong>Editorial test:</strong></em> </p><blockquote><p><em>Who has the most to lose in this story? Are they present with name, context, and consequence</em> <em>in the first third of your piece?</em></p></blockquote><p>If not, you&#8217;re reporting the fire. Not the building that keeps catching.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>Field note on source relationships</strong></em></p><p>Burden-bearers are often sources who've been burned by coverage before: used as a single quote, stripped of context, left exposed after publication with no follow-up. The relationship requires more than a consent form. It requires transparency about how the material will be used, what decisions you'll make about their identification, and what your obligations are after the piece goes live. Phase 2 of this guide addresses this in depth, specifically, how to handle sources who are also subjects, and what rigor looks like without cruelty.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp" width="840" height="570" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:570,&quot;width&quot;:840,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:53204,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Zkbn!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F14efba2c-875e-489d-8fbd-203183735c72_840x570.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Toolkit 3: Reaching burden-bearers and protecting them</strong></h3><p>Secure communications are baseline: <a href="https://securedrop.org">SecureDrop</a> for newsrooms; Signal with disappearing messages for individual reporters. The Freedom of the Press Foundation's <a href="https://freedom.press">operational security guides</a> are shareable with sources, not just practitioners. For community-based sourcing, the antidote to the parachute model, build relationships with survivor advocacy groups, mutual aid networks, and community organizations before you need them for a story. <a href="https://meedan.com/check">Meedan's Check</a> enables collaborative verification with input from affected communities, valuable for content in languages or contexts outside a reporter's fluency. And the <a href="https://dartcenter.org">Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma</a> carries peer-reviewed, practitioner-tested guidance on trauma-informed practice. It belongs in your working reference, not just your reading list.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png" width="1456" height="952" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Lut-!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe721b070-42f3-4dec-9e09-15303bbe8a51_1674x1094.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">(Source: Meedan Check)</figcaption></figure></div><p>*<em>See my full guide and series for the deeper breakdown of this case and related tools.</em></p><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"><strong>Share this toolkit with a friend or peers!</strong></p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-how-to-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div><hr></div><h2><strong>What these three shifts have in common</strong></h2><blockquote><p>They all require resisting the pull toward what is easiest to see, film, quote, and sell.</p><p>That pull is real. Editors want the hook. Platforms reward the clip. Audiences click on conflict. None of that is going away. <strong>And none of it is an excuse, either.</strong></p><p>These shifts aren&#8217;t about producing slower journalism or quieter journalism. They&#8217;re about producing journalism with a longer half-life: stories that build public understanding instead of borrowing its attention.</p><p>Phase 1 of this guide is conceptual. It changes how you frame the story before you report it. The shifts in Phases 2, 3, and 4 build on this foundation: rigor without cruelty, structure that makes systems visible rather than personalities legible, and the sustained practice of doing this work inside institutions that don&#8217;t always reward it. A story with the right frame but weak verification is still a weak story. These phases are cumulative. Each one assumes the work of the one before.</p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>Because I care&#8212;and because I want us to win&#8212;here are two bonus shifts to carry with you from Part I before you start reporting: treating virality as distribution evidence, and placing the incident within the larger pattern. Both are about closing the gap before the first word is written.</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>Killing Spectacle (Part I-Continued): Framing the Story &#8212; Two Bonus Shifts Before You Report on Online Harm and Extremism</strong></em></p><p><em><strong><a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued">Read it here.</a></strong></em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><h2><strong>The Field</strong></h2><p>The practices above are easier to sustain inside a community of people working on the same problems than alone. That&#8217;s what <em><a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice">The Field</a></em> is: a cross-sector community of practice for journalists, researchers, advocates, lawyers, and technologists working at this intersection, built on the principle that the people with the most situational knowledge are often those with the least institutional power, and that better practice requires closing that gap deliberately. If this is your beat, wherever you are, it&#8217;s yours to join.</p><p><em>Join The Field</em>: Fill out the <a href="https://forms.gle/LCvmnkqRo8g6L1MN8">intake form </a>or reach out to me directly at <em><a href="mailto:inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com">inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com</a></em></p><div><hr></div><h2><strong>The Frontier</strong></h2><p>These three shifts will make individual stories better. They won&#8217;t fix the structural conditions that make better journalism hard to sustain: the revenue models that reward speed over depth, the synthetic media environment that is actively contaminating the evidentiary record, and the reach gap that means the reporting most needed by communities closest to the harm is the reporting least likely to reach them. Each of those problems gets its full treatment in the phase where it becomes most acute, synthetic media and verification in Part 2, the reach gap in Part 3, the revenue question in Part 4. Naming them here is a promise, not a deferral. The frontier is the reason the guide exists. Craft alone doesn&#8217;t close it.</p><div><hr></div><blockquote><p><strong>Up next&#8212; </strong><em><strong>Killing Spectacle,</strong></em><strong> </strong><em><strong>Part 2:</strong> <strong>Rigor without cruelty.</strong></em> </p></blockquote><p><em>How to verify claims in spaces designed to mislead, including a synthetic media environment where the detection tools are always one cycle behind the fakes. How to handle sources who are also subjects, and what informed consent actually looks like as an ongoing practice rather than a one-time form. And the specific problem no one talks about clearly enough: what you do with evidence you can verify but cannot safely publish, and how that shapes what you can responsibly claim.</em></p><p><em>Part 2 of this guide is where the frame you built in Part 1 either holds or falls apart. The craft is in making it hold. </em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p></p><p><strong>Two additional shifts to consider before you start reporting: treating virality as distribution evidence, and placing the incident within the larger pattern. Both are about closing the gap before the first word is written.</strong></p><blockquote><p><em><strong>Killing Spectacle (Part I-Continued): Frame the Story Right with Two More Shifts (read here)</strong></em></p></blockquote><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><p><em>If this is your beat, or someone you edit, teach, or commission, send it to them directly and invite them to join <a href="https://forms.gle/LCvmnkqRo8g6L1MN8">The Field</a>, our new community of practice. The journalists and media practitioners who need this most are rarely the ones looking for it. </em> </p><div><hr></div><p>These aren&#8217;t universal rules. They&#8217;re practices drawn from years in this space. What works in a long-form investigation won&#8217;t always survive a breaking news brief. Context matters. This guide is a conversation, leave a comment or reach me directly with what&#8217;s missing and what works. What&#8217;s useful goes into the guide, with credit.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg" width="310" height="387.5" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1350,&quot;width&quot;:1080,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:310,&quot;bytes&quot;:226744,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/193489262?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fec6f30ea-d0f6-4f62-8174-641f8ca17465_1080x1350.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="Raja Althaibani" title="Raja Althaibani" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!zupR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F19785cc6-5ed7-4c00-a019-aac19e396770_1080x1350.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>About the author.</strong> Raja Althaibani works at the intersection of media, harm, technology, and accountability&#8212; advising, training, investigating, and building tools for practitioners navigating an information landscape that moves faster than most frameworks can follow. </p><p>She writes <em><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani">Unembedded</a></em>, which includes the ongoing series <em><a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/announcing-a-new-series-the-safari?selectQuote=true">The Safari Is Over</a> </em>; and founded <em><a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/the-field-a-community-of-practice?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">The Field</a></em>, a cross-sector community of practice for journalists, researchers, advocates, and technical practitioners working on these beats.</p><blockquote><p><em><a href="mailto:inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com">inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com</a> &#183; <a href="http://www.rajaalthaibani.com">www.rajaalthaibani.com</a> &#183; <a href="https://forms.gle/XbU2eZJnUernrgSRA">Join The Field</a> </em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png" width="1456" height="971" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/b16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:971,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2335890,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;killing spectacle media guide manosphere raja althaibani extremism journalism AI and digital online harms&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/195048785?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="killing spectacle media guide manosphere raja althaibani extremism journalism AI and digital online harms" title="killing spectacle media guide manosphere raja althaibani extremism journalism AI and digital online harms" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ry4s!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb16cdc6b-53c7-4b86-892d-52b0b3ff93dd_1536x1024.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Inside the Manosphere I: The Media Spectacle is a Distraction]]></title><description><![CDATA[Louis Theroux&#8217;s polite interrogation of a digital freak show is less excavation than media reflex. It&#8217;s time we stop gawking at the influencers and start dismantling the machinery.]]></description><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:01:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>From the romanticizing of Middle Eastern uprisings to the <a href="https://www.makhzin.org/issues/feminisms/rojava-the-details-of-their-struggle">fetishizing of Kurdish women </a>fighters, I am tired of <a href="https://institute.aljazeera.net/en/ajr/article/2619#:~:text=Western%20mainstream%20media%20biases%20and,from%20Israeli%20sources%20spreads%20unchecked.">spectacle-driven media</a> takes that flatten lived realities, ignore structural power, and mistake performance for insight. </em></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp" width="728" height="381.1294117647059" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:356,&quot;width&quot;:680,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:728,&quot;bytes&quot;:10720,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/webp&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/191903581?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!4h4Y!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8b78223b-2718-4399-a66b-b23bd785fc4b_680x356.webp 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><blockquote><p><em>New here? This essay is part of <a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/ff383933-6a4a-4f2c-ae45-32d11b05bd59">The Safari Is Over: Why Louis Theroux Never Made It Inside the Manosphere</a><strong>,</strong> a series on the systems and incentives that have made the manosphere more visible, more influential, and more misunderstood. Read the series introduction and announcement <a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/ff383933-6a4a-4f2c-ae45-32d11b05bd59">here</a>.</em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p></p><p>When<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Theroux"> Louis Theroux</a>&#8217;s<a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/videos/louis-theroux-inside-the-manosphere-trailer"> </a><em><a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/videos/louis-theroux-inside-the-manosphere-trailer">Inside the Manosphere</a><a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-1" href="#footnote-1" target="_self">1</a></em> landed on Netflix last month, it seemed to promise a public service. At last, here was a mainstream documentary promising to enter an ecosystem that has spent years radicalizing grievance, laundering misogyny as <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/looksmaxxing-the-manosphere-beauty-cult/a-76538730">self-help</a>, and turning humiliation into a business model.</p><p>But the film mistakes so-called access for understanding.</p><p>Theroux is the undisputed master of the faux-na&#239;ve encounter: the blinking, bumbling Englishman whose disarming politeness usually <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo_DuXWJgRM">coaxes the truth</a> out of fanatics. For years, that method worked because exposure still carried moral weight. To be seen clearly&#8212;saying vile things aloud, revealing dehumanizing beliefs, and performing your own moral squalor for the camera&#8212;was, in itself, compromising.</p><p>But in the neon-lit gyms and high-rise apartments of the so-called &#8220;manosphere&#8221;<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-2" href="#footnote-2" target="_self">2</a>, his act feels less like a method than a valuable asset inside a content machine <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/19/beyond-andrew-tate-the-imitators-who-help-promote-misogyny-online">run by a motley crew </a>of savvy hustlers and manfluencers<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-3" href="#footnote-3" target="_self">3</a>. Rather than a rigorous inquiry into the system that makes the manosphere <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/louis-theroux-on-the-manosphere-its-highly-profitable-to-be-a-dick-on-the-internet/#:~:text=The%20manosphere%20is%20a%20broad,to%20lure%20in%20young%20viewers.%5C">profitable,</a> reproducible, <a href="https://publichealthpost.org/health-equity/the-manosphere-a-political-force-hidden-in-plain-sight/">politically useful</a>, and dangerous, the documentary plays out as a digital safari.</p><p>Across its 91-minute runtime, Theroux gawks at hyper-masculine grifters and flamboyant villains, offering viewers a guided tour through the <a href="https://worldrecordsjournal.org/spectacle-as-camouflage-how-the-idf-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-video-activism/">spectacle while obscuring the machinery,</a> incentives, and deeper actors sustaining it.</p><p>But who can really blame him?</p><div class="instagram-embed-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;instagram_id&quot;:&quot;DWJix4HDA03&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Netflix UK &amp; Ireland on Instagram: \&quot;Awkward silences? Never hea&#8230;&quot;,&quot;author_name&quot;:&quot;@netflixuk&quot;,&quot;thumbnail_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/__ss-rehost__IG-snapshot-DWJix4HDA03.jpg&quot;,&quot;like_count&quot;:null,&quot;comment_count&quot;:null,&quot;profile_pic_url&quot;:null,&quot;follower_count&quot;:null,&quot;timestamp&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}" data-component-name="InstagramToDOM"></div><p>In one scene, we watch as 24-year-old British TikTok influencer <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/louis-theroux-inside-the-manosphere-b1274057.html">HS TikkyTokky</a>, n&#233;e Harrison Sullivan, casually presents his phone to show Louis a <a href="https://capsulenz.com/think/inside-the-manosphere/">video of himself receiving oral sex</a> in a club toilet just hours earlier. </p><div><hr></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" 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class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><blockquote><p><em>Sullivan, right, appears amused and almost triumphant after showing Theroux the graphic video, bragging that he had been &#8220;out late getting content.&#8221; Source: Netflix</em></p></blockquote><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif" width="725" height="426.5378548895899" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:373,&quot;width&quot;:634,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:725,&quot;bytes&quot;:12483,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/avif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/191903581?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!IVSm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F10915c89-b7cc-46c5-946f-caecf92a8935_634x373.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><blockquote><p><em>Theroux appears visibly disgusted. Source: Netflix</em></p></blockquote><div><hr></div><p>We see the <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-manosphere-found-its-way-into-the-black-community-226710">Fresh &amp; Fit</a></em> podcast studio functioning like a digital-age Roman coliseum, where Myron Gaines and his co-host invite young, unprepared women onto the podcast only to <a href="https://theconversation.com/louis-therouxs-inside-the-manosphere-exposes-the-business-model-of-misogyny-277509">badger and degrade them</a> before a live audience of thousands. </p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg" width="1200" height="630" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:630,&quot;width&quot;:1200,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:128878,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/i/192515190?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W3zm!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13a65ba7-39da-44ce-9850-ff1c9b321f79_1200x630.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Even Theroux, long practiced in meeting <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdldVhfbaU">extremists and fanatics</a>, appears <a href="https://thetab.com/2026/03/25/louis-theroux-and-myrons-wild-debates-on-his-podcast-that-werent-shown-in-the-netflix-doc">visibly astonished</a> by the sheer spectacle of it all.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif" width="964" height="542" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jzD6!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fced29c1b-dc9c-4727-a2c0-166b9a2a5281_964x542.avif 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>And that is precisely the problem. The manosphere is <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1097184X251350277">not just a collection of obnoxious men</a> with ring lights and microphones, nor merely a niche internet pathology. It is a networked commercial ecosystem <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/how-male-grievance-fuels-radicalisation-and-extremist-violence/">built on grievance</a>, gender panic, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09589236.2025.2576811">extremist ideology</a>, and <a href="https://gnet-research.org/2025/12/12/the-feed-that-shapes-us-extremism-and-adolescence-in-the-age-of-algorithms/">algorithmic escalation</a>. It monetizes male insecurity, packages domination as clarity, and converts resentment into recurring revenue.</p><p>That is where the documentary goes wrong. By treating the manosphere mainly as personality, or as &#8220;toxic masculinity&#8221; embodied by a young, amoral generation, it mistakes spectacle for explanation. More broadly, it reflects a recurring failure in mainstream media: when coverage locks onto the face, the clip, and the performance, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/nightlife/demographics-australia/106507384">structure</a> recedes behind character. Systemic critique collapses into character study.</p><p>Theroux leans into that logic. He centers the individual as both narrative engine and easy-to-digest villain, while sparing Netflix and<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740624X24000017"> other platforms</a> a more unpleasant analysis of the algorithmic incentives and systemic forces that <a href="https://yougov.com/en-gb/articles/47419-one-in-six-boys-aged-6-15-have-a-positive-view-of-andrew-tate">built these men</a> in the first place.</p><p>More importantly, he misses a crucial point: these men are not simply being themselves. They are performing <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/louis-theroux-on-the-manosphere-its-highly-profitable-to-be-a-dick-on-the-internet/">profitable characters</a><strong> </strong>for a global audience. If Theroux had set up the conditions to break the fa&#231;ade, or brought in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4f4oKnLDgg">someone with deeper knowledge </a>of the space, a more revealing truth about both these figures and the ecosystem they inhabit might have emerged.</p><p>Instead, he falls into a profound irony. In trying to expose the spectacle, he reproduces its logic, prioritizing performance over systemic accountability. He <a href="https://www.aru.ac.uk/news/inside-the-manosphere">gives a global stage</a> to the movement&#8217;s preferred symbols of success&#8212; supercars, crypto wealth, and the livestreamed <a href="https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/angie-kristen-waller-louis-theroux-manosphere-netflix-documentary">objectification of women</a>&#8212; while looking past the wreckage and the <a href="https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/angie-kristen-waller-louis-theroux-manosphere-netflix-documentary">invisible majority</a> left in their wake.</p><p>The deeper question is not simply what these men do, but what kind of <a href="https://medium.com/@kavyaaa/influencer-culture-and-the-commodification-of-vulnerability-351fe399435a">system rewards</a> this behavior in the first place.</p><p>The manosphere does not run on conviction alone. To stay solvent in the attention economy<strong>,</strong> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/19/beyond-andrew-tate-the-imitators-who-help-promote-misogyny-online">red-pill influencers</a> have learned to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/oct/21/why-the-manosphere-clicked-for-young-men-a-visual-deep-dive">commodify misogyny and spectacle,</a> paying a kind of mandatory tax of the macabre to remain visible.</p><div id="tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hsullivan%2Fvideo%2F7538746820629892374%3Fembed_source%3D121374463%252C121468991%252C121439635%252C121749182%252C121433650%252C121404359%252C121497414%252C122122240%252C121351166%252C121811500%252C121960941%252C122122244%252C122122243%252C122122242%252C121487028%252C122237599%252C121331973%252C120811592%252C120810756%252C121885509%253Bnull%253Bembed_blank%26refer%3Dembed%26referer_url%3Dcdn.iframe.ly%252Fapi%252Fiframe%253Fmedia%253D1%2526app%253D1%2526url%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tiktok.com%25252F%252540hsullivan%25252Fvideo%25252F7538746820629892374%2526key%253De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd%26referer_video_id%3D7538746820629892374&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" class="tiktok-wrap outer" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.tiktok.com/@hsullivan/video/7538746820629892374&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;#hstikkytokky #fyp #edmatthewstokky #viral #videoviral  &quot;,&quot;thumbnail_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/cdeb934b-192b-4edd-92fa-058684cfad4f_1080x1920.jpeg&quot;,&quot;author&quot;:&quot;Harrison Sullivan&quot;,&quot;embed_url&quot;:&quot;https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hsullivan%2Fvideo%2F7538746820629892374%3Fembed_source%3D121374463%252C121468991%252C121439635%252C121749182%252C121433650%252C121404359%252C121497414%252C122122240%252C121351166%252C121811500%252C121960941%252C122122244%252C122122243%252C122122242%252C121487028%252C122237599%252C121331973%252C120811592%252C120810756%252C121885509%253Bnull%253Bembed_blank%26refer%3Dembed%26referer_url%3Dcdn.iframe.ly%252Fapi%252Fiframe%253Fmedia%253D1%2526app%253D1%2526url%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tiktok.com%25252F%252540hsullivan%25252Fvideo%25252F7538746820629892374%2526key%253De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd%26referer_video_id%3D7538746820629892374&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd&quot;,&quot;author_url&quot;:&quot;https://www.tiktok.com/@hsullivan&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}" data-component-name="TikTokCreateTikTokEmbed"><iframe id="iframe-tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hsullivan%2Fvideo%2F7538746820629892374%3Fembed_source%3D121374463%252C121468991%252C121439635%252C121749182%252C121433650%252C121404359%252C121497414%252C122122240%252C121351166%252C121811500%252C121960941%252C122122244%252C122122243%252C122122242%252C121487028%252C122237599%252C121331973%252C120811592%252C120810756%252C121885509%253Bnull%253Bembed_blank%26refer%3Dembed%26referer_url%3Dcdn.iframe.ly%252Fapi%252Fiframe%253Fmedia%253D1%2526app%253D1%2526url%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tiktok.com%25252F%252540hsullivan%25252Fvideo%25252F7538746820629892374%2526key%253De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd%26referer_video_id%3D7538746820629892374&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" class="tiktok-iframe" src="https://cdn.iframe.ly/api/iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hsullivan%2Fvideo%2F7538746820629892374%3Fembed_source%3D121374463%252C121468991%252C121439635%252C121749182%252C121433650%252C121404359%252C121497414%252C122122240%252C121351166%252C121811500%252C121960941%252C122122244%252C122122243%252C122122242%252C121487028%252C122237599%252C121331973%252C120811592%252C120810756%252C121885509%253Bnull%253Bembed_blank%26refer%3Dembed%26referer_url%3Dcdn.iframe.ly%252Fapi%252Fiframe%253Fmedia%253D1%2526app%253D1%2526url%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tiktok.com%25252F%252540hsullivan%25252Fvideo%25252F7538746820629892374%2526key%253De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd%26referer_video_id%3D7538746820629892374&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" loading="lazy"></iframe><iframe src="https://team-hosted-public.s3.amazonaws.com/set-then-check-cookie.html" id="third-party-iframe-tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hsullivan%2Fvideo%2F7538746820629892374%3Fembed_source%3D121374463%252C121468991%252C121439635%252C121749182%252C121433650%252C121404359%252C121497414%252C122122240%252C121351166%252C121811500%252C121960941%252C122122244%252C122122243%252C122122242%252C121487028%252C122237599%252C121331973%252C120811592%252C120810756%252C121885509%253Bnull%253Bembed_blank%26refer%3Dembed%26referer_url%3Dcdn.iframe.ly%252Fapi%252Fiframe%253Fmedia%253D1%2526app%253D1%2526url%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tiktok.com%25252F%252540hsullivan%25252Fvideo%25252F7538746820629892374%2526key%253De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd%26referer_video_id%3D7538746820629892374&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd" class="third-party-cookie-check-iframe" style="display: none;" loading="lazy"></iframe><div class="tiktok-wrap static" data-component-name="TikTokCreateStaticTikTokEmbed"><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hsullivan/video/7538746820629892374" target="_blank"><img class="tiktok thumbnail" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qz5k!,w_640,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcdeb934b-192b-4edd-92fa-058684cfad4f_1080x1920.jpeg" style="background-image: url(https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qz5k!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fcdeb934b-192b-4edd-92fa-058684cfad4f_1080x1920.jpeg);" loading="lazy"></a><div class="content"><a class="author" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hsullivan" target="_blank">@hsullivan</a><a class="title" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hsullivan/video/7538746820629892374" target="_blank">#hstikkytokky #fyp #edmatthewstokky #viral #videoviral  </a></div></div><div class="fallback-failure" id="fallback-failure-tiktok-iframe?media=1&amp;app=1&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40hsullivan%2Fvideo%2F7538746820629892374%3Fembed_source%3D121374463%252C121468991%252C121439635%252C121749182%252C121433650%252C121404359%252C121497414%252C122122240%252C121351166%252C121811500%252C121960941%252C122122244%252C122122243%252C122122242%252C121487028%252C122237599%252C121331973%252C120811592%252C120810756%252C121885509%253Bnull%253Bembed_blank%26refer%3Dembed%26referer_url%3Dcdn.iframe.ly%252Fapi%252Fiframe%253Fmedia%253D1%2526app%253D1%2526url%253Dhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.tiktok.com%25252F%252540hsullivan%25252Fvideo%25252F7538746820629892374%2526key%253De27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd%26referer_video_id%3D7538746820629892374&amp;key=e27c740634285c9ddc20db64f73358dd"><div class="error-content"><img class="error-icon" src="https://substackcdn.com//img/alert-circle.svg" loading="lazy">Tiktok failed to load.<br><br>Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser</div></div></div><p>They engage in clip-farming and context stripping, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/revealed-how-tiktok-bombards-young-men-with-misogynistic-videos-andrew-tate">distilling hate</a> into its most viral form for <a href="https://fujomedia.eu/site/assets/files/2047/dcu-toxicity-full-report.pdf">algorithms that reward the most jagged edges</a> of the human psyche. Under incentives that reward outrage, humiliation, and extremity, they monetize the demolition of their own dignity<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-4" href="#footnote-4" target="_self">4</a>, knowing that only the most visceral provocations reliably break through the noise<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-5" href="#footnote-5" target="_self">5</a>.</p><div id="youtube2-xN7qt_yeZVQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;xN7qt_yeZVQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xN7qt_yeZVQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Research points to precisely this <a href="https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-algorithmic-management-of-polarization-and-violence-on-social-media">logic</a>: repeated exposure, recommendation loops, normalization, and monetized escalation. Seen through that lens, many of the documentary&#8217;s most infamous moments look different. They are not just signs of moral rot. They are also signs of <a href="https://epochemagazine.org/24/what-is-the-price-of-our-attention/">market discipline</a>.</p><p>What looks like shamelessness is often evidence that private life has been fully <a href="https://www.mediastudies.press/pub/abidin-layers/release/2">absorbed into production</a>. Sex, shame, cruelty, confrontation, humiliation&#8212;nothing remains outside the feed if it can be <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-influencer-marketing">monetized within it</a>. Yet the documentary returns to these scenes as if their extremity were the deepest thing about them. It is not.</p><p>The deeper fact is that this ecosystem now requires escalation. In a <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-influencer-marketing">saturated market</a> of outrage, neutrality is death, moderation is invisibility, and dignity does not scale. The men in this space are not only <a href="https://lens.monash.edu/recommending-the-manosphere-how-algorithms-amplify-antifeminist-masculinities/">rewarded for transgression</a>; many are trapped by the need to intensify it. That would have been the documentary&#8217;s real subject, had it trusted the harder story.</p><p>And once you see that escalation is not incidental but structural, the ecosystem begins to look less like chaos than hierarchy and ideological convergence. </p><div id="youtube2-OXNvwBV8eK8" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;OXNvwBV8eK8&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/OXNvwBV8eK8?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><div class="captioned-button-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="CaptionedButtonToDOM"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This post is public so feel free to share it.</p></div><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p></div><div><hr></div><p>At the top sit the better-insulated operators: figures like the Andrew Tates, with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MSm6a4_Swk&amp;t=10s">diversified revenue</a>, political adjacency, private channels, event circuits, loyal fan economies, and <a href="https://www.thedrum.com/industry-insight/why-influencers-are-shifting-from-rented-social-to-owned-media-channels">off-platform leverage</a>. </p><p>Beneath them is a much <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/11/manosphere-influencers-louis-theroux-documentary">larger class</a> of clippers, podcasters, streamers, outrage merchants, and masculinity entrepreneurs who depend almost entirely on algorithmic visibility. They posture as sovereign men while living in profound dependence on Big Tech and the upper tiers of manosphere hierarchy.</p><p>This hidden hierarchy matters because it makes the <a href="https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/spc3.70123">ecosystem legible</a>. It shows who is protected and who is disposable. It explains why &#8220;community&#8221; so often turns out to be a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39973258/">marketing fiction</a> rather than brotherhood or connection. </p><p>It also reveals that many of the loudest figures, like those featured in the documentary, are not architects so much as products: profitable, vicious, disposable, replaceable.</p><p>The hierarchy also reproduces itself through recruitment. More established operators do not simply build audiences; they court younger influencers, pull them into their orbit, and turn them into feeder figures for the brand. The point is not just ideological alignment. It is audience capture.</p><p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=sneako&amp;kgmid=/g/11scrm8ncw&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiJw6Cpnb2TAxVJ_7sIHTQSJcIQ3egRegYIAQgDEAI">Sneako</a> illustrates the pattern. He first built an audience as a teenage <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0MhBBn2Vt4">YouTube</a> creator long before entering the manosphere, then was drawn into <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2496605/andrew-tate-and-sneako-engage-in-escalating-feud-over-white-supremacy-comments-and-personal-attacks">Andrew Tate</a>&#8217;s orbit and recast as a younger, more platform-native extension of that world, quickly earning a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5f89eezu7s">reputation as Tate&#8217;s prot&#233;g&#233;</a>.<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-6" href="#footnote-6" target="_self">6</a></p><p>His more recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8oB4K2Tjlc">fallout</a> with Tate <a href="https://www.uniladtech.com/streaming/netflix/sneako-manosphere-statement-louis-theroux-documentary-890853-20260318">reveals the fragility</a> of loyalty in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_pill_and_blue_pill">red-pill</a> economy. What looks like mentorship is often a form of capture: the absorption of new faces, new markets, and new streams of grievance into the machine. In a hierarchy built on clout, access, and followers, conflict is never merely personal. It is also a struggle over succession&#8212;over who gets to inherit the brand, the audience, and the authority of the &#8220;Top G.&#8221;</p><p>In that sense, the manosphere can begin to resemble a minor geopolitics of influence: alliances are tactical, loyalty is conditional, and succession battles are fought through audiences as much as ideology.</p><p>In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrjcAzhhPCw">recent video</a>, Sneako put it this way:</p><blockquote><p><em>&#8220;The Matrix sees slop and clout, and they love you. They give you everything [&#8230;] But once you speak to people that are different than you&#8212;that is when the vultures come out of nowhere and swarm.&#8221;</em></p></blockquote><div id="youtube2-dmjWZWtZXyw" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;dmjWZWtZXyw&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/dmjWZWtZXyw?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>That hierarchy, and the recruitment funnel it depends on, also help explain who benefits from keeping the system volatile. The manosphere does not exist in isolation. It is embedded in a wider ecosystem of actors who derive value from that volatility: ideologues, extremists, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/19406940.2026.2625061?needAccess=true">power brokers</a> whose reach extends far beyond fitness tips and lurid scenes.</p><p>Researchers increasingly describe the manosphere as a <a href="https://icct.nl/publication/male-supremacist-terrorism-rising-threat?utm_source=chatgpt.com">networked ecosystem</a> in which <a href="https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2208&amp;context=gc_pubs">misogynistic narratives</a> circulate across <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/19406940.2026.2625061?needAccess=true">overlapping subcultures</a>, often intersecting with other forms of extremism and moving beyond the niche digital margins they once appeared to occupy. </p><p>Experts have also repeatedly <a href="https://icct.nl/sites/default/files/2023-01/Mapping-the-Ideological-Landscape-of-Misogyny%20%282%29.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">pointed to overlaps</a> with far-right ecosystems, including white supremacist and anti-democratic currents. Some recent counter-extremism research suggests that today&#8217;s radicalization landscape no longer fits neatly into clean ideological boxes. What investigators increasingly encounter instead are <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-91887-2_13">blurred, unstable, and overlapping</a> formations. </p><p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13540688221136819">That ambiguity</a> is part of the danger. It makes these ecosystems harder to track and harder to counter precisely because grievance, entertainment, influencer culture, and ideological radicalization now bleed into one another.</p><p>Those overlaps are no longer peripheral. Figures like <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=who+is+sneako+influencer&amp;rlz=1C5CHFA_enTR1144NL1145&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORigATIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRiPAtIBCDQxNjlqMGo3qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;udm=50&amp;fbs=ADc_l-aN0CWEZBOHjofHoaMMDiKpaEWjvZ2Py1XXV8d8KvlI3jljrY5CkLlk8Dq3IvwBz-STdXuEzGDtifuksnhqLMJOyFZSzkpyfDDdjxauttsfv48szA4qwvlPKEHZtLge13wYbr46_sWWLHQzw-hUJT_JZQes9qzJWFRUMz8eqpkjTt7hhMUIJQYPjGkG1y7HbGa1gdtgauK0D5Bu9gt8Vy-fpTbHeg&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiCscPKoMqTAxUjVPEDHb2qDJsQ0NsOegQIBRAB&amp;aep=10&amp;ntc=1&amp;mstk=AUtExfBOb88UD1Nlb5hkmjnjICycNjF5Rec5zWTra73ySjKCrh55g6y8TD0ASSXYOCcRks_tfQ7AHhqsh5CLLQKxGmBkIe2sZ3R6QRCpk61aVtT1_UShsDDXlBeLDKJTIvO5vMjn9O-JvGKEh9p7VzRdrDj9Cr1dx0FGvf1nzubN9tI1wuLtGl3TKYuLidFeVxho0w3R7nS-OBY8Oga95BeRL_TKqTacw3sem0qxe-DF9pdP2rFdJ3vah2_WuSDwg0xPZGhTVS4kRjs50ofZ21g3a5dYrXcYdHH6CRs2IWICgDkzTCjUBN-7In8SRIoYVV2Soem-ELyEv1QbNA&amp;csuir=1&amp;mtid=l83LadXfFYK8xc8P4-KfmAU">Sneako</a> and Nick Fuentes help show how misogynistic branding, far-right politics, antisemitism, and celebrity spectacle increasingly merge and spill into one another.</p><div id="youtube2-5WnTFAAj9dg" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;5WnTFAAj9dg&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/5WnTFAAj9dg?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>A <a href="https://x.com/FR0STY_333/status/2012775379572805912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2012775379572805912%7Ctwgr%5E2e9a2235eee42ef532c170eb31c7f61cdddf5664%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhiphopwired.com%2F3009497%2Fandrew-tate-nick-fuentes-kanye-west-heil-hitler-miami-reactions%2F">recent viral clip</a> of Andrew and Tristan Tate, Nick Fuentes, Sneako, and others <a href="https://hiphopwired.com/3009497/andrew-tate-nick-fuentes-kanye-west-heil-hitler-miami-reactions/">partying in a Miami nightclub </a>while Kanye West&#8217;s &#8220;Heil Hitler&#8221; played in the background is a crude but telling example of that convergence: misogynist influencer culture, far-right provocation, celebrity antisemitism, and platformed spectacle collapsing into the same scene.</p><div class="twitter-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://x.com/FR0STY_333/status/2012775379572805912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2012775379572805912%7Ctwgr%5E2e9a2235eee42ef532c170eb31c7f61cdddf5664%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhiphopwired.com%2F3009497%2Fandrew-tate-nick-fuentes-kanye-west-heil-hitler-miami-reactions%2F&quot;,&quot;full_text&quot;:&quot;sneako puts on &#8220;Heil Hitler&#8221; by Ye &amp;amp; everybody gets hyped then they walk into a club with it blasting in the background with a legendary lineup including Nick Fuentes Andrew Tate Tristan Tate &amp;amp; Clavicular \n\naura \n\nremilio &quot;,&quot;username&quot;:&quot;FR0STY_333&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;&#120333;&#120345;&#10052;&#65039;&#120346;&#120347;&#120352;&quot;,&quot;profile_image_url&quot;:&quot;https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1731969712785907712/QT5QBWjQ_normal.png&quot;,&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-18T06:33:40.000Z&quot;,&quot;photos&quot;:[{&quot;img_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/upload/w_1028,c_limit,q_auto:best/l_twitter_play_button_rvaygk,w_88/gik5uwvisj52ud89hs0d&quot;,&quot;link_url&quot;:&quot;https://t.co/q9rSKPt0pD&quot;}],&quot;quoted_tweet&quot;:{},&quot;reply_count&quot;:44,&quot;retweet_count&quot;:73,&quot;like_count&quot;:1237,&quot;impression_count&quot;:380797,&quot;expanded_url&quot;:null,&quot;video_url&quot;:&quot;https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2012775072688168960/vid/avc1/1258x720/BDX9YIv9A7ax030s.mp4&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM"></div><p>By chasing visible manosphere figures without following these ideological mergers to their outer edges, Theroux misses the deeper and more <a href="https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/DPL-Fostering-Healthy-Masculinities-Building-Resilience-Against-Online-Misogyny.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">dangerous intersections</a> with actors like Nick Fuentes, who use alpha rhetoric and gender grievance as Trojan horses for broader <a href="https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/camh.12747">radicalization</a> and incitement.</p><p>That is why the documentary, for all its so-called access, never really gets &#8220;inside&#8221; the manosphere.</p><p>Instead, it raises a critical ethical question: does the film function as a critique, or merely as a larger stage for the reciprocal grift?</p><p>By prioritizing shocking, performative moments over <a href="https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/DPL-Fostering-Healthy-Masculinities-Building-Resilience-Against-Online-Misogyny.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">structural analysis</a>, the documentary leans into spectacle journalism, where the line between interrogation and amplification becomes dangerously thin, creating a parasitic symbiosis in which legacy media and the renegade manosphere perform for one another, each using the other&#8217;s platform to reinforce its own <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/louis-theroux-inside-the-manosphere-b1274057.html">relevance, visibility, and clout</a>. It exposes the banality of the scam behind the curated personas, yet remains entangled in the same attention economy that sustains them.</p><p>For all its bile and spectacle, the most striking thing about the documentary is how &#8220;meh&#8221; it feels. Packaged as awareness, its <a href="https://capsulenz.com/think/inside-the-manosphere/">rhetoric</a> is often barely distinguishable from the sensationalist content and extremist provocations already circulating through news cycles, political discourse, official rhetoric, and <a href="https://www.ascl.org.uk/ASCL/media/ASCL/Help%20and%20advice/Inclusion/Safer-scrolling.pdf">algorithm feeds</a>. </p><div id="youtube2--55hPvPnTOU" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;-55hPvPnTOU&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/-55hPvPnTOU?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>If anything, the film feels tame because we are already trapped in a feedback loop where the bar for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj9kgxqjwjo">outrage keeps rising</a> and the machinery of radicalization has <a href="https://www.in-mind.org/article/viral-and-harmful-violence-in-media-and-its-impact-on-empathy">become ordinary</a>.</p><p>This is not a fringe problem, and it is not far from home. <a href="https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/online-safety/research-statistics-and-data/protecting-children/experiences-of-engaging-with-the-manosphere.pdf?v=398550&amp;utm_source=chatgpt.com">Research suggests</a> that manosphere content now forms part of the online environment many people, including young users, can encounter directly. Related <a href="https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/number-of-young-people-arrested-for-terrorism-offences-hits-record-high/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">UK data</a> also show that 19 percent of those arrested for terrorism-related offenses in 2023 were aged 17 and under.</p><p>That does not mean every misogynistic influencer space is a terrorism pipeline. It does mean the wider ecology of radicalization, grievance, and digitally mediated harm can no longer be treated as niche. </p><p>Not when so many young users encounter fragments of it directly and daily. </p><p>Not when its styles and logics have already leaked so thoroughly into public discourse. </p><p>Not when the bar for outrage has been pushed so high that degradation now reads as ordinary content.</p><p>And the effects of spectacle journalism and media storytelling are not incidental. They are corrosive. </p><p>On audiences, it heightens attention and emotional arousal while often eroding credibility, especially in hard news<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-7" href="#footnote-7" target="_self">7</a>. Over time, it breeds fatigue, cynicism, avoidance, and a public that is overstimulated but underinformed.</p><p>For journalism, it shifts incentives from verification and depth to visibility, personalization, and performance. </p><p>For public discourse, it favors scandal, conflict, and personality over policy, process, and structure. </p><p>For democracy, the problem is not simply vulgarity. It is that spectacle weakens the conditions democratic judgment requires: trust, shared factuality, deliberative attention, and sustained engagement with public life.</p><p>And for the invisible majority<a class="footnote-anchor" data-component-name="FootnoteAnchorToDOM" id="footnote-anchor-8" href="#footnote-8" target="_self">8</a>, it turns casualties into background. The people who profit from attention stay at the center of the frame; the people who bear the costs are pushed to its edges.</p><p>We are already saturated by an attention economy that trains us to treat humiliation, conflict, and dehumanization as normal. To keep platforming spectacle at the expense of a better-informed public is professional <a href="https://lawrepository.ualr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1344&amp;context=lawreview">malpractice.</a></p><p>It is time to move beyond spectacle and cynical grift and start examining this as a crisis of connection, accountability, power, and political formation.</p><p>The safari is over.</p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Key takeaways</strong></h3><blockquote><p>The manosphere is not a roster of outrageous men. It is a networked commercial ecosystem, and reporting and storytelling should treat it as such.</p><p>When coverage centers the performer, it risks mistaking access for understanding and spectacle for explanation.</p><p>Extremity is not always revelation. Often it is market discipline: content shaped by platforms, monetization, and the demand for visibility.</p><p>The real story is usually off-camera: hierarchy, incentives, audience funnels, ideological overlap, and who profits from amplification.</p><p>Spectacle-centered coverage can unintentionally strengthen the system it claims to expose by routing attention, legitimacy, and curiosity back to its most marketable figures.</p><p>Good reporting and storytelling should ask not only what was said, but what is being optimized, who is being recruited, what is being normalized, and what has been pushed out of frame.</p><p>The people most visible in these ecosystems are not always the most powerful. Many are replaceable performers inside a larger machine.</p><p>When coverage keeps the loudest performer at the center, the people harmed by the system become background.</p></blockquote><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&action=share"><span>Share</span></a></p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Companion resources</strong></h3><blockquote><p>Because this problem extends beyond one documentary or one subculture, this essay is accompanied by additional practical resources, publishing in the upcoming days and weeks: </p><ul><li><p><strong>A guide for journalists and editors</strong> on avoiding spectacle, reducing amplification, and reporting the system rather than the performance.</p></li><li><p><strong>A separate audience tip sheet</strong> for readers, parents, educators, and viewers on how to recognize spectacle, pause escalation, and ask better questions about what platforms are rewarding.</p></li><li><p><strong>Practitioner&#8217;s note:</strong> <em>We Are Not Your Spectacle A critique for Western Media Practitioners, from Your Arab American Peer.</em></p></li></ul></blockquote><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Note to Readers</strong></h3><p>This essay is the first in a series, <em><a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/ff383933-6a4a-4f2c-ae45-32d11b05bd59">The Safari Is Over: Why Louis Theroux Never Made It Inside the Manosphere</a>.</em> Using the documentary as a starting point, the series examines the wider systems, cultures, and conditions that have made the manosphere more visible and more misunderstood. <a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/ff383933-6a4a-4f2c-ae45-32d11b05bd59">Read more here.</a> </p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Media, Research, and Professional Inquiries</strong></h3><p>For media requests, speaking invitations, consultations, collaboration inquiries, or professional contact, please reach out at inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com or connect via <a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani">Substack</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajaalthaibani/">LinkedIn</a> messenger or via <a href="https://www.rajaalthaibani.com/contact">my website contact form</a>. </p><div class="directMessage button" data-attrs="{&quot;userId&quot;:315697287,&quot;userName&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;canDm&quot;:null,&quot;dmUpgradeOptions&quot;:null,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}" data-component-name="DirectMessageToDOM"></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-1" href="#footnote-anchor-1" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">1</a><div class="footnote-content"><p> Louis Theroux&#8217;s <em>Inside the Manosphere</em>: Louis Theroux, director, <em>Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere</em> (Mindhouse Productions/Netflix, 2025), Netflix Official Site.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-2" href="#footnote-anchor-2" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">2</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>&#8220;Growing ultra-masculine network&#8221;: Quoted from the official Netflix landing page for <em>Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere</em>. See <a href="https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/louis-theroux-inside-the-manosphere-release-date-news?">Netflix / Tudum page </a>for the documentary description and release details.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-3" href="#footnote-anchor-3" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">3</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manosphere">Manosphere</a> refers to a decentralized network of websites, blogs, and forums&#8212;including incels, pick-up artists, and Men&#8217;s Rights Activists&#8212;often characterized by misogyny and opposition to feminism.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-4" href="#footnote-anchor-4" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">4</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Manfluencer: A portmanteau of &#8220;man&#8221; and &#8220;influencer&#8221; used to describe male social media personalities who weaponize performative ideas of masculinity and promote regressive notions about women.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-5" href="#footnote-anchor-5" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">5</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Dignity is a barrier to virality. True human connection is slow and nuanced. By demolishing it&#8212;dehumanizing women, mocking "weak" men, or staging cruel pranks&#8212;the influencer creates a spectacle of dominance. This satisfies the "Alpha" brand while providing the high-contrast imagery (wealth vs. poverty, strength vs. weakness) that performs best visually on mobile screens.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-6" href="#footnote-anchor-6" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">6</a><div class="footnote-content"><p><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=sneako&amp;kgmid=/g/11scrm8ncw&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiJw6Cpnb2TAxVJ_7sIHTQSJcIQ3egRegYIAQgDEAI">Sneako</a>, n&#233;e Nico Kenn De Balinthazy, a 27-year-old influencer who first found an audience as a teenage <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0MhBBn2Vt4">YouTube</a> prodigy long before he became associated with the manosphere. He was initially known for creative editing, <em><a href="https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2024-april-11/#:~:text=Extremist%20groups%20across%20the%20ideological,in%20today's%20technologically%20advanced%20landscape.">Call of Duty</a> </em>videos, street-style commentary. In the post-Covid period, and after upheaval in his private life, he was drawn into <a href="https://tribune.com.pk/story/2496605/andrew-tate-and-sneako-engage-in-escalating-feud-over-white-supremacy-comments-and-personal-attacks">Andrew Tate</a>&#8217;s orbit.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-7" href="#footnote-anchor-7" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">7</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Hard news refers to urgent, factual, and significant reports on topics like politics, international affairs, crime, and the economy, designed to inform the public quickly. These stories are time-sensitive, often using the inverted pyramid structure to place crucial facts first. It contrasts with soft news, which is more entertaining or human-interest focused.</p></div></div><div class="footnote" data-component-name="FootnoteToDOM"><a id="footnote-8" href="#footnote-anchor-8" class="footnote-number" contenteditable="false" target="_self">8</a><div class="footnote-content"><p>Nick Fuentes is a prominent far-right live-streamer and leader of the &#8220;Groypers,&#8221; a loosely organized group of white nationalist and alt-right activists. While primarily known for white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideologies, Fuentes is also a key figure within the extremist, political wing of the &#8220;manosphere&#8221;. He promotes intense misogyny, arguing that women should be disenfranchised and that their primary role is in the home.</p></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Announcing a New Series: The Safari Is Over: Why Louis Theroux Never Made It Inside the Manosphere ]]></title><description><![CDATA[A new series on the manosphere, media spectacle, misogyny, extremism, platform power, and the urgent need for clearer public literacy and stronger institutional response.]]></description><link>https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/announcing-a-new-series-the-safari</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/p/announcing-a-new-series-the-safari</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Unembedded | Raja Althaibani]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:50:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg" width="686" height="386" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!W4Eu!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa60355f-4e1f-4e75-a144-b713b69f69c8_686x386.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><blockquote><p>Read the first essay in the series here: <em><a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">Inside the Manosphere I: The Media Spectacle Is a Distraction</a></em></p></blockquote><p>There is now an entire media economy devoted to making extremism impossible to ignore while doing far less to make it intelligible.</p><p>That problem sits at the center of this new series, <em>The Safari Is Over: Why Louis Theroux Never Made It Inside the Manosphere</em>, which examines the manosphere not as an internet curiosity or passing media spectacle, but as part of a wider ecosystem of misogyny, hate, extremism, and violence evolving in plain sight.</p><p>Using the Louis Theroux documentary as a starting point, and placing it alongside other pop-cultural texts, news stories, case studies, and emerging social trends, the series explores both the shared dynamics and the important differences across these formations.</p><p>It asks two central questions: what does it mean to live in a media environment that makes extremism easier to consume, circulate, and act on than to understand, and what can be done to interrupt and mitigate that harm more effectively, ethically, and responsibly?</p><p>This is no longer a fringe issue, if it ever truly was. The overlap between manosphere culture, broader far-right ecosystems, and more mainstream reactionary politics has become too consequential to dismiss as online spectacle or subcultural noise. What is at stake here is not only cultural analysis, but the public interest, public safety, and national security.</p><p>Across the series, I examine the structures that shape and sustain these worlds: media and journalism, platform design, Big Tech and its incentives, emerging technologies and AI, regulatory and legislative bottlenecks, policy failures, and the public habits that can either intensify harm or help contain it. The aim is not simply to interpret the spectacle, but to make it legible.</p><p>The series is written for both practitioners and general readers, with particular relevance for journalists, researchers, educators, policy specialists, legal analysts, trust and safety teams, and security practitioners. It combines analysis with practical literacy: how to recognize these dynamics early, how to respond more effectively, and how to avoid making them worse through weak analysis, careless language, poor ethics, or ineffective tools.</p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Series Rollout</strong></h3><p>The series will be published here on Substack over the coming months, generally on a fortnightly cadence. Alongside the main essays, I&#8217;ll also be publishing companion pieces, practice notes, source breakdowns, practical explainers, and media-literacy resources.</p><p>The first essay, <strong>&#8220;<a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/inside-the-manosphere-i-the-media?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">Inside the Manosphere I: The Media Spectacle Is a Distraction</a>,&#8221;</strong> is now live. Upcoming companion materials will include a practice note on the relationship between spectacle journalism and amplification, along with tip sheets for practitioners and audiences on how to recognize, resist, and avoid reinforcing spectacle-driven narratives.</p><p>The next installment turns to the emotional economy beneath the spectacle, and to the thing most people still mistake for its primary product.</p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>The Full Map &#8212; What&#8217;s Published and What&#8217;s Coming</strong></h3><p></p><p><strong>THE SAFARI IS OVER</strong> <em>Analysis</em> <em>Series on the manosphere, media, power, and the systems that produced both</em></p><p>Published:</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/p-192515190?utm_source=profile&amp;utm_medium=reader2">Inside the Manosphere I</a>: The Media Spectacle Is a Distraction </p></li><li><p><a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/rajaalthaibani/p/inside-the-manosphere-ii-the-donut?r=57yhl3&amp;utm_campaign=post&amp;utm_medium=web&amp;showWelcomeOnShare=true">Inside the Manosphere II:</a> The Donut Shop and the Ruins <em>(new)- Publish date: Tuesday, May 5, 2026</em></p></li></ul><p>Forthcoming:</p><ul><li><p>Inside the Manosphere III: Affective Combat and the Paper Tiger <em>(Old Establishment vs. The New Media Renegade (Piers Morgan, HS Sullivan, Systemic Convergence) - Publishing May 6, 2026 </em></p></li><li><p>Inside the Manosphere IV: The Invisible Majority <em>(framework, reality check, burden-bearers) - Publishing May 16, 2026 </em></p></li><li><p>Companion practice notes and tip sheets tied to the manosphere and <a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/p-195151579?utm_source=profile&amp;utm_medium=reader2">THE FIELD</a>. </p></li></ul><div><hr></div><p><strong>THE FIELD DISPATCH</strong> <em>Working intelligence and practice resources for practitioners</em></p><p>Published:</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/p-195048785?utm_source=profile&amp;utm_medium=reader2">Killing Spectacle Part 1:</a> Three Shifts for Journalists Who Cover Online Harm </p></li><li><p><a href="https://rajaalthaibani.substack.com/p/killing-spectacle-part-1-continued">Killing Spectacle Part 1 Continued:</a> Two Bonus Shifts Before You Report</p></li><li><p><a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani/p-195151579?utm_source=profile&amp;utm_medium=reader2">The Field:</a> A Community of Practice <em>(announcement and call to action)</em></p></li></ul><p>Forthcoming:</p><ul><li><p>Killing Spectacle Part 2: Rigor Without Cruelty</p></li><li><p>Killing Spectacle Parts 3 and 4 <em>(structure, sustained practice)</em></p></li><li><p>Companion practice notes and tip sheets tied to the manosphere series</p></li><li><p>Media literacy resources for general audiences</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Where to Follow</strong></h3><p><strong>Substack (<a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani">@rajaalthaibani</a>)</strong>: full essays, companion pieces, and extended analysis</p><p><strong>Instagram (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/raja_althaibani/">@raja_althaibani</a>)</strong>: shorter posts, bite-sized educational slides, visual explainers, live commentary, links, and frequent updates. </p><p><strong>LinkedIn (<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajaalthaibani/">@rajaalthaibani</a>)</strong>: practitioner-focused reflections, applied takeaways, and professional context</p><p><strong>Website coming soon</strong>: rajaalthaibani.com </p><p style="text-align: center;"><em>To follow the full series and receive new installments directly, subscribe on Substack here:</em></p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe now&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary" href="https://dispatch.rajaalthaibani.com/subscribe?"><span>Subscribe now</span></a></p><div><hr></div><h3><strong>Media, Research, and Professional Inquiries</strong></h3><p>For media requests, speaking invitations, consultations, collaboration inquiries, or professional contact, please reach out at inquiries@rajaalthaibani.com or connect via <a href="https://substack.com/@rajaalthaibani">Substack</a> or <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajaalthaibani/">LinkedIn</a> messenger or via <a href="https://www.rajaalthaibani.com/contact">my website contact form</a>. </p><p></p><div class="directMessage button" data-attrs="{&quot;userId&quot;:315697287,&quot;userName&quot;:&quot;Raja Althaibani&quot;,&quot;canDm&quot;:null,&quot;dmUpgradeOptions&quot;:null,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}" data-component-name="DirectMessageToDOM"></div><p></p><p></p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>