Worms
EPISODE 317: We found Olivia Nuzzi's lost song.
There are some media stories whose lore grows so swiftly — for those fluent: yes, I am straining to avoid a bamboo reference here — that you need help explaining them to non-journalists whose brains have not yet been eaten by their groupchats.
Thankfully, Friends of PTFO Mike Schur (one of Hollywood’s most prolific showrunners) and Jess Smetana (a precocious sports reporter) came to my rescue.
A list of main characters include, but are by no means limited to: Olivia Nuzzi (a precocious political reporter and author of the forthcoming book American Canto); Nuzzi’s ex-paramour, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (the secretary of health and human services); and Nuzzi’s ex-fiancé, Ryan Lizza (formerly of The New Yorker and now the author the most viral Substack in American journalism).
There is a real discussion about journalism’s incentive structure in here.
There is also some music that I dare you to forget.
YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:
You try to stay away but you can’t obey,
Pablo
Honestly, Nuzzi's writing always struck me as mean girl/cool girl posturing versus a newer version of journalism.
I rember her writing about Hillary Clinton (She's boring!) and Trump (he's cool!) and thought that I was reading a tween diary instead of, you know, an actual news item.
Sorry, not sorry, Olivia. Please go away and take your icky former fiancee (who seems to be a much better writer) with you.