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Why Do You Just Say "The President?" - Editor's Desk
🕑 Added 2025-09-30 19:42:56 +0000 UTCSome feedback on the distribution of the editor's desk. more thoughts on the format changes, a style question, and a request for Live With It products.
IMHO exclusive content is nice, but I don’t see it as a main reason I’m a Patreon. Only way I could start feeling weird about it is if you’re prioritizing lots of comments from non Patreons via something like live chat. Even then I would struggle to care! Ad free and putting that co-executive producer credit on my resume is why I’m here! Everything else is just icing!
Still consistently loving the new format!
Matt
[[summary of editors desk feedback]]
Tom, after listening to David's feedback on today's Editors desk I felt compelled to write in with a "Here Here!" I've enjoyed listening to DTNS since the beginning in its many formats but as a patron the frustration is that my pocketcasts feed rapidly fills with an abundance of Tom.(question can you have too much Tom? )
I've liked the structure of having a DTNS news show each day and if I'm to be honest the era of show when you had DTNS each day that spilled into the live after show was my favorite, on days where I was time poor I could listen up to the 30 minute mark and then stop and other days listen on to the full hour. (15 min or 30 min at 2 speed)
Currently I have to stop and over think what I should listen to today and that appears to have removed a structure in my podcast listening habit and is messing with my calm :) .
I'm sure you'll eventually get this new formular just right
Nigel in sunny Sydney
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Hi Tom,
I’m with David in that I like consistency and with all the various formats of DTNS, I want… want to delete everything except DTNS Briefing, the live version of that Thursdays and of course what I consider what should be paywalled the Editor Desk. I said want to delete because I have the feeling I'm missing content if I delete for instance Office Hours. The last one was called "Why AI Slop kills productivity". Will DTNS talk about this in the Briefing? Will Tom think he's already talked about this and remove it from the lineup? I just can't help thinking I'm missing content and that DTNS is now just like all the other streamers. Don't get me wrong, I still like the structured work, even live but I wonder if instead of asking me about pie in the next survey you might consider insight into what your fans would like from a content perspective.
The pie is fun, but having it in the middle of the survey throws me off from the intent of the survey to help shape your business. As for the like/don’t, to my recollection that is Freeform text and difficult to get a real understanding of what listeners are hoping to give as feedback when compiling the data.
All-in-all, I know you and the crew are trying to offer quality programming within a budget which in your world, can vary wildly based on market conditions.
Thank you Tom as always,
Martin
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Hi Tom,
I’ve heard you read out a few negative messages about the new format on Editors Desk so wanted to give you some of my more positive feedback to balance it out.
When you first announced the changes a month ago I was a little bummed as I thought it was going to lose a lot of content and become much less fun, but after a few weeks of it I think I actually prefer the new way. I have started listening to the Briefing again to get my tech news. When you made the original switch to multiple shows a year or so ago I thought Briefing felt too scripted and robotic, so switched to Live and didn’t listen to it after that, but Briefing seems to have improved dramatically in my absence and the hosts and conversation now feels exactly like the old tighter show from years ago that I originally liked when I first found DTNS.
On top of that you now have the Live once a week which feels a lot more fun now that you can choose to cut loose about the more interesting topics of the week, rather than the conversation sometimes feeling forced to fill an hour in what are sometimes quite news-dry days.
In short, I think the new changes have lead me to rediscover what I originally liked about the old DTNS, while retaining enough of the Live personality to satisfy the more fun side. Plus switching to the half hour briefing instead of the 1 hour Live gives me more time to catch up on other podcasts, as well as the newer Live with Its!
In short, despite initial trepidation I am enjoying the new changes, and sometimes you don’t know what works for you until it comes!
Thanks,
Phil
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Hello Tom,
I have a nugget for discussion if you so choose for your weekly editor’s desk.
When I read or listen to reporting of any kind I find myself honing in on language used that may hint at political bias. I know DTNS avoids politics except when it is tech relevant, such as H1B visas, TikTok, and so on, and I believe you are generally fair when it comes to your reporting in this way.
You actually made me more aware of this from a journalistic perspective in a discussion you once had concerning how you refer to the President of the United States. I think it was a parent or grandparent that instilled in you the notion of respect for the office by referring to the president by name, so “President Clinton,” “President Obama,” or “President Bush” is more appropriate to say rather than “that jerk in the white house,” or even “the current administration,” —especially when you personally may not be in favor of them.
I have noticed in your team’s reporting of late, however, that you have genericized the office, past and present.
Two recent examples:
On Sept 26 (DTNS 5113) you read,
“Thursday the President of the United States signed an executive order….” (in reference to TikTok);
and on Sept 24 (DTNS 5111) Sarah reported concerning the YouTube account reinstatement for some creators whose channels were suspended due to alleged violations of “COVID-19 and election integrity policies that are no longer in effect” Sarah went on to say “Representative Jordan had subpoenaed Alphabet as he investigates whether the President coerced or colluded with Alphabet to censor speech.”
In the case of the former, we know who the president currently is, so not naming the present seems appropriate in reference to signing an executive order. In the case of the latter, the generic use of “the President” obfuscates which administration is under investigation.
I’m curious if the pattern of late of using terms such as “The administration,” “The US President,” or “The President of the United States” without saying President Trump or President Biden is a deliberate workaround to minimize the polarization that may arise concerning the topic at hand in an effort to identify “The one elected of whom we do not speak” sort of thing.
Thanks as always for being open to nit-picky commentary and feedback.
Love the Show!
Brian in Raleigh
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Kyle Nishioka
Will the DTNS team review paid services for Live With It? Seems like
there are only physical products being reviewed.
For example, I know JuRY has mentioned that he uses Notion. I don't
recall if he ever went into a deep dive like a Live With It episode to
describe how he uses it.
Kyle
Comments
R W Nash
Still at the Tweakage stage with the new changes. Think you are correct to break out The Editors Desk as a standalone. Many Thanks (MT) Quality Nitpicky question and reply. Very solid. Adobe Audition? Quality. Maybe some Rogue Amoeba? Could Seven just get a paper round instead?
Chris
It's a +1 for Phil's email from me as I think that sums up my perspective too. I've enjoyed the recent changes more than I expected. The only thing I'd add is that I've enjoyed having the office hours recordings in the live feed to dip in and out of when I have some extra time. I especially enjoyed the recent ones with Scott and Justin. If you do have someone else join you could you put their name in the title of the office hours episode? Would help me to prioritise it to listen! Thanks
