Get Known podcast: Get inside the journalists’ mindset.
In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Chris Chinchilla, who is a podcaster, video maker, and writer of interactive fiction and games. Chris runs his own media and podcast called Chinchilla Squeaks, which covers all kinds of tech-related topics.
Being and running an independent media has its own opportunities and challenges. It was great to sit down with a journalist in this space because it seems that more and more people with a niche understanding and interest are choosing to build their own freelance media and stepping away from the constraints of the established players. These kinds of media open up the door to areas sometimes inaccessible by many bigger media companies that are forced by their editors to stay in a particular lane.
Chris goes between covering the tech industry and helping people with specific tech tools with his writings, podcasts, and YouTube channels. We started out by getting to know what he likes to cover all these different areas and media types. Chris actually has recently returned from Ukraine and is covering the industry there. We talked about what it means to cover tech in a war zone.
We talked a lot about how people engage with the media in different places and things that turn a journalist off from what you are trying to get coverage. As we have heard from other journalists, Chris reiterates that he is super interested in speaking with the real makers of tech and is less interested in talking to marketing-oriented people. He gives some good tips for tech folks who are asked to speak on behalf of their companies. We also spoke about sponsored content and ways it can be both beneficial and unbiased.
I learned a lot about balanced, independent tech reporting, the job, and the economics. We cleared up some misunderstandings about this type of reporting, channels, and the value independent media brings in different ways than the big publishers.
This interview was also recorded on the floor of the Slush conference in Helsinki, so you may hear some background noise. Without any further delay, here is our interview with Chris Chinchilla.
