Agenda Takeover: Robert Robb

When your name rings out, use it...

After retiring last summer from an illustrious 23-years stint as a columnist the Arizona Republic, Robert Robb launched a Substack and just called it Robert Robb.

You can do that when you have a background like his.

Besides his career at the Republic, Robb has been published by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, CNN Opinion, RealClearPolitics.com, USA Today and other Gannett newspapers across the country. For several years, he did a weekly commentary for the “Horizon” program on Phoenix’s public television station, and he’s been a guest on PBS’s The NewsHour, MSNBC, BBC Worldwide, CNN’s American Morning, C-Span and several shows on Fox News. And prior to that, Robb ran his own public affairs and public relations agency for 13 years.

Suffice to say, he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to politics and policy in Arizona.

Robb has been a huge supporter of the Agenda since the beginning, offering thoughtful advice on all sorts of aspects of running this business and charting a new course between straight journalism and opinion.

So today, we asked him to share his thoughts on the state of opinion journalism in the Substack era. As usual, we totally disagree with him… Just kidding! As usual, it’s a smart examination of where we’ve been, where we’re going and what it all means.

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When, in my nonage, I began to become politically aware and interested, there seemed to be some real lions of opinion journalism.

On the right, there was Bill Buckley and James Jackson Kilpatrick; on the left, Scotty Reston and Tom Wicker; in the center, the Alsop brothers, Joseph and Stewart. And these luminaries were hardly alone. There was a broad array of opinion writers, national and local, plying their trade — which eventually became my own.

This may just be the nostalgic reminiscences of an old fogey, remembering a better day that really wasn’t. But it does seem to me that opinion journalism in those days was more substantive and independent in judgment and perspective than, as a general proposition, it is today. Today, it sometimes is hard to tell the difference between what purports to be opinion journalism and the talking points of political spokespersons. 

The liberal opinion writer Jonathan Chait makes a similar point in a recent essay for New York Magazine, “In Defense of Independent Opinion Journalism.” But he sees the shrinkage through an ideological lens that I find unpersuasive and excessively narrow.

Chait does provide a useful description of the difference between independent opinion journalism and political activism that assumes a journalistic form:  “Independent-opinion journalism describes opinion writing that is designed to inform readers about the world through argument and analysis, rather than to directly encourage political outcomes.”

In this context, independent doesn’t mean not having an ideological orientation or tendency. It means writing what you think without regard to the political consequences. And it means regarding yourself, and acting, as an independent observer, not a participant in the fray. Probably no opinion writer manages to do this entirely and always. But it’s the standard. 

Now, I have had a career in both worlds. I started writing an opinion column for the Arizona Republic at the age of 44, after various endeavors in which it was my job, in many cases, to attempt to achieve a particular political outcome. But, as a columnist, I strove, as Chait put it, to inform readers about the world, or at least this part of it, through argument and analysis. Some readers thought I succeeded. Other readers disagreed — some respectfully and some not so respectfully.

Chait sees the shrinkage in independent opinion journalism as taking place primarily on the left. He attributes that to envy of what the left regards as the successful media propagandists on the right and a felt need to counteract them by emulating them. 

As a libertarian conservative, the notion that left-wing media has been markedly less propagandistic than right-wing media rings rather hollow. Instead, I think the shrinkage has occurred broadly, and due primarily to market forces and the failure of market incumbents to respond successfully.

The lions I mentioned were all syndicated newspaper columnists. The news and commentary business in those days was relatively concentrated. Today, it is extraordinarily diffuse.

Generally, I think that’s a good thing. And, as a libertarian, I don’t fret about people ensconcing themselves in an information bubble, only reading or hearing reinforcing messages. If that’s what they want, so be it.

However, I think there remains an underserved market for independent-minded news, analysis, and commentary.

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The immediate response of the newspapers to the internet challenge was to attempt to duplicate their print business model of selling eyeballs to advertisers. They initially gave away their content for free and started chasing clicks.

With respect to opinions, what generates clicks is venom and snark. But there is abundant free venom and snark available online. No need to pay for it.

Slowly, newspapers have learned that, in a digital world, they have to have subscribers pick up a larger share of overall costs, rather than relying so heavily on advertisers. Even more slowly, newspapers are learning that what generates clicks isn’t what generates subscribers. What could generate subscribers, in my view, would be an independent-minded, curated product delivered on a consistent basis, which would include independent-minded commentary. 

I don’t want to depict too grim an opinion journalism landscape. There is still very high-quality independent opinion journalism being produced. However, rather than having it delivered to your doorstep, often you have to go looking for it.

Since retiring from the Republic, I have been writing once or twice a week on Substack. Enough people have found me there to constitute an audience well worth writing for. That’s been aided by the generous attention the Arizona Agenda has given to my work. Even without that generous attention, the Agenda would still be the first thing I read in the mornings. 

I really like the Substack model of connecting writers directly with readers. No publishers or editors, although all of my editors were benevolent and supportive. No advertising or annoying popups. 

I feel a little guilty that, since this is a retirement project for me, I’m not charging anything for a subscription, so Substack isn’t making any money from hosting my scribblings. I would pay a fee for the use of the platform but so far Substack isn’t charging freeloaders like me.

There are those making a fortune writing independent opinion journalism on Substack, demonstrating that there is still a market demand for it.

There are still lions out there. You just have to look a little harder, and sometimes a lot harder, to find them.  

Reach Robert Robb at robtrobb@gmail.com.