The rise of the writer's guilds in Spain and USA

The Listening Post on Al Jazeera tends to focus on those producing hard news. But as this item from Spain proves, the disruptive nature of some of the small startups is starting to have effect in Spain. The big broadcasters have huge overheads (studios, transmitters, large production teams). And yet they don't practice investigative journalism - it's all event reporting. So what happens? You see the rise of the social commentators. And when stand-up comedians turn out to be excellent political commentators (e.g. John Oliver), then the audiences find them and follow. Oliver's piece on FIFA for instance just says what everyone is thinking, and yet mainstream media doesn't cover. Why does it work? Because its a tightly written story using the most powerful weapon there is: humour. 6 million views for an item segment on YouTube is good for a show that only started in April.



Oliver is brilliant because he's remained humble. He still takes part in a weekly podcast called the Bugle. Hope success doesn't alter his character.