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Housekeeping 14, JUN 2023 - Update on Linnea and Malcontent News' Future
🕑 Added 2023-06-14 20:26:33 +0000 UTCThat is not the message I wanted to write today.
Linnea has abruptly left Malcontent News and is no longer working on the Russia-Ukraine War Report Podcast. This is an unfortunate situation.
On June 6, 2023, Linnea Hubbard disagreed with the analyst team's preliminary assessment in the June 5, 2023, Situation Report that the Kakhovka Dam had likely experienced an engineering failure. When the report was created, that was the best available information, supported by multiple news outlets. Linnea expressed she was uncomfortable sharing some of the content in the podcast for June 6, and I agreed with her request to leave it out. That was, apparently, inadequate.
Linnea accused the analyst team and me of spreading "misinformation" in a June 7 e-mail and brought up other issues, and felt the Situation Report damaged her reputation. I asked her if she was resigning, which she denied.
I repeatedly requested Linnea to meet with me 1:1, which she refused, and I asked her to forward additional information she had received about the dam, which was never sent. As a team, this created an internal struggle on how to position the situation at the Kakhovka Dam. In the June 6 Situation Report, there was an extensive clarification based on new information, which Linnea deemed inadequate.
There was a heated meeting on June 9 with the leadership team, where we landed on an official position, which was released in the June 9 - 10 combined Situation Report, and was included in the June 12 podcast covered by Yewleea.
On Monday, I explained our position again to Linnea via e-mail, shared the available information on June 6, and pointed out that even on the evening of June 6 in Ukraine, the Ukrainian National Security Council did not have an official position that the dam was blown up. I offered to pay her closing invoice, in full, with a couple of caveats on timing for unrealized revenue yet to be reported by Spotify, and added that the door was open to move forward.
On June 13, Linnea replied to me, "I appreciate your response. I’ll get back to you in 24 hours or so about how we can move forward."
I woke up this morning to find I was blocked by her on social media, and she had launched her own podcast. She did not respond to the e-mail. Linnea never sent a resignation letter or explanation.
The truth matters.
Transparency matters.
When I have taken the microphone, I appealed for more subscribers for the Patreon so we could better pay Linnea what she's worth. That's why there was a goal of 2,000. It is my fault, and I take responsibility for not being clear enough to our community why that was a goal. This is not to say this is your fault - it's not - it's mine.
As for the future, because this was unexpected and I was operating on the basis that Linnea was negotiating in good faith, the podcast's future is unsure. If Linnea were to demand the existing catalog to be removed, we have no grounds to block that claim - she started as a volunteer. So far, there has been no request or action required to take down previous episodes. I hope things have not deteriorated to that point, as it will hurt the Ukrainian people far more than the team or the small amount of revenue on the back catalog.
There will be an episode today, and the Situation Reports and Flash Reports will continue, as will the map and some of our other planned work. It is unfortunate as we have listeners in the occupied territories, according to our data, which goes down to the settlement level.
If you're thinking to yourself, well, I could do the podcast if someone does the script and the rest, I will first advise you that it is a tremendous amount of work, so think carefully before sending a message offering to provide a stop-gap.
My personal view. The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam is a disaster that, long-term, will have a greater economic impact on Ukraine than the meltdown disaster at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986. If you are newer to the Situation Reports or the podcasts, we try to be right over first and operate with the best available information, and don't shy away from errors and omissions. Long-term readers and listeners know that we have previously taken up positions that did not follow the broader narrative, including,
- The sinking of the Moskva
- The non-sinking of the Ivan Khurs
- The Kharkiv counteroffensive
- How political infighting that started in November 2022 between Prigozhin and Shoigu was on a path that would cause political instability within Russia
- Why Ukraine should not withdraw from Bakhmut in February 2023
Among others.
Based on the best available information and the lack of other information, the analyst team made the preliminary assessment. In hindsight, which is always perfect, the better response may have been, "We have no idea," but it appears there were other deeper issues under the surface. However, on the morning of June 6, 2023, the position of "Russia blew up the dam" would not be rooted in fact based on the available information. That's not who we are. The analyst team and I started in a place of, "The bastards committed the worst war crime of the war," but as painful as that is, that wasn't an objective viewpoint in the early morning hours of June 6, Ukraine time. It was our position in the June 5 Situation Report that Russia was responsible for the collapse because Russia controlled the power plant, regardless of the cause. As more information came to light and an additional body of evidence pointed to intent, we updated you with that information.
I understand if you were here for Linnea, and because of this situation, you are going to end your financial support.
The truth matters, and we'll find a collective way to move forward.
I wish Linnea all the best in her future endeavor, and it was a pleasure to work with her and to see her find her voice over the last ten months.
You can find Linnea's new home here.
Comments
I am available to assist.
I was wondering where the podcasts went! Thank you for the clarification. Linnea was a great narrator. I also rely on audio, not reading, to keep up to date with war news. I second the opinion voiced by others that the past few episodes were hampered by the weird sound effects, comments and impressions.
Ecruteak
Just to add a few more sticks to the bonfire here - (1) I rarely have my hands and eyes free, so I deeply appreciate the podcast and have never minded that the info was (99% of the time) accurate rather than speedy... though I have the luxury of being thousands of miles away and not making immediate decisions based on it. (2) Linnea did a fine job but she was one member of a big team that could still put out an equally good podcast if they want to. I'll stay subscribed on Patreon as long as I can keep up with the emails, but would prefer the audio format if feasible. (3) I beg you not to publish any more audio content with those offensive impressions of Russian accents from the Report for June 13.
Options #2 and #3 get my vote
this is not Linneas new podcast. It is Yewleeas "the brief". Linnea is just helping out every second day with the voice over. Yewleea is moving her brief to daily podcasts
WthinWthout
She said her decision was influenced by scheduling and single parenting, basically the podcast was a bit consuming I guess. Hopefully it works out for her, especially since this has been the main project her name is tied to. (According to Google). Idk. I may pop in to see what her new show is up to from time to time, but it's not available on the podcast app I use (Castbox) and I usually forget that Spotify exists. I already follow Yewleea on YT and TT, so I honestly don't think I personally need to learn an whole new app for the podcast. It may be preferable to some folks though, surely! Linnea's twitter says that her profession is voice acting and TBH, I think she'd be super great at audiobooks.
She's a "woman", U `jackass`. Show that girl sum love, if U can't "show her the money" (yet!) ... I too jumped to conclusion and went STRAIGHT to "War Crime" when the major dam started to overflow its obviously blown open gate doors. Had you the sonic info from Finland affirming an underwater "blast" at the time I am sure you all would have done the same. But, on a hierarchy of "real" scenarios, you all chose a little bit down the totem-pole. Quite understandable! Which begs the question ... Why did #Linnea REALLY leave? ... Significant translations of both #Ukrainian and #Russian officials into English aside (I did see (hear) #Linnea sprinkle her podcast with same) ... I just listened to #Linnea's "new" podcast. She still has the same perfect voice, inflection, and delivery to cover a #Slavic-based "neighborly" war. However, she now "swims in the shallows" and lacks periscope depth. Come back, babe! "Nobody does it better!" Guaranteed!
I’m so sorry that Linnea has left my favorite podcast. I’m really going to miss her understated snark. But from the little I heard of her new program I won’t be joining Spotify any time soon just to hear her. Stick to your principles and keep up the good work. Know any good podcasts on the war that I should listen to?
Wow. i’m only just realizing that I follow the dynamics and health of the MC staff, almost as much as I’m following the Ukraine war. Sending warm and healing thoughts as everyone navigates this transition.
When the dust settles in a few more days, and for now, it appears to be settling faster than I expected, we will start surveying our Patreons on what "the future" looks like on the podcast. The big plus to the perception of the laser accuracy of the podcast, beyond the occasional errors and omissions (and we had a major one on June 12), is that the data was close to 48 hours old by the time the podcast was published. There were numerous occasions when the recording was ongoing, and items were updated, added, or removed, further adding to accuracy. I can't think of a specific example, but a general one would be the SITREP reported fighting in a settlement that between its release and the 12 to 18 hours when the podcast was released, it was liberated/captured. Another example would be there was a missile strike on a Ukrainian city, but at the time of publication of the SITREP, we didn't know what was damaged, how many casualties, etc. When we started the podcast, my concern was diluting the value of the SITREP for our already paying subscribers. While many here have given feedback they prefer to read, many people (in the broader "we" being the world sense) do prefer to listen. Getting the news "first" through the SITREP was the added value of becoming a Patreon. The significant feedback here, even among those who loved the podcast, Linnea, and everything she brought to the organization, that the downside was the "dated" information, is surprising to me. I undervalued that aspect of our work on the SITREP. The immediacy tied with accuracy (99% of the time) is clearly important. Since I've written a novel already, and believe in radical transparency, things we are considering. 1) Hiring a person as an employee and continuing with the podcast as it was. 2) Using a natural AI to do a short summary (under 10 minutes) of the battlefield, which podcast listeners have repeatedly told us is the highest value content that isn't covered by other sources, coupled with... 3) ...analysis and interviews or an opportunistic basis. 4) Something else that hasn't popped up in our brains. Thank you for your feedback. It is deeply appreciated.
I hope one day we can talk also, but I am not the person who closed the door. We will try to do better in the future.
Deeply appreciate the feedback, Eric, we did do a lengthy update in the June 9-10 report, and it was in the June 12 podcast. I wanted to get it out on June 8 as more information came to light and again on June 9. Part of what held up the report on June 9 was a flood of intelligence on a number of other issues that required extensive verification. One change that started yesterday is that the Situation Report does not have to be written as a foundation for the podcast; it is moving back to pre-August 2022, which is shortening the length. This will make the reading more dry, but the overall length of the report will be shorter. Also, we'll be providing more of the full Russian-English or Ukrainian-English translations of significant quotes and assessments by Russian and Ukrainian voices again. I am hopeful that by midweek next week, we can go back to the summary of the SITREP on the news site, which we were doing before the podcast started.
I am deeply saddened by this whole situation. I don't know all the specific details but I think that this response lacked nuance and sensitivity. I too was quite disappointed on your initial conclusion as to it being a "structural failure" from not being maintained correctly. I was so surprised that you came out so quickly with this assessment when there was so much other conflicting information out there at the same time. I didn't expect you to know what actually happened, but instead put out all the different theories (like you did later). I was extremely surprised that you came to that initial conclusion but because I trusted that you would not make conclusions without solid proof I assumed that you had rock solid evidence that you couldn't share yet. However when you changed your assessment, when you got more information, I realized that you had jumped the gun on your initial assessment. I believe you did Damage to your reputation because you have never acknowledged that you jumped the gun and were wrong to do so. My disappointment is not that you were wrong but that you haven't appeared to acknowledge that it was wrong of you to make the initial conclusion so hastily without all the evidence. I suspect that possibly you were not actually Listening and hearing what Linnea was saying to you for her to be so upset with you. This report paints her in such a bad light and I doubt it went the way you think it did. For her to have volunteered so much of her time and emotional energy to do this podcast for free, She obviously had a passion for it, I hope that you are able to eventually talk with her and hear what she has to say about what went wrong. She was a great addition to your team and will be sadly missed.
This sucks. I wanted to mention my thoughts on the dam news though. I scan the daily reports most days, but only read intently every few days. When the news broke about the dam, I read your analysis and came away with the feeling that it was an accident, more or less: compounded damage from the war, as opposed to a bombing. I repeated that information to my wife and others -- "no, there's not solid evidence of Russian bombing, it looks like the dam just collapsed." So that was the story for a few days, sure. But I didn't get the memo that there was solid evidence (of Russia bombing the dam) from you. Maybe I missed it? Maybe it was too subtle? I just don't remember getting a flash report with a title like "nope, we were wrong... it was Russian sabotage!" in the days thereafter. And that's what I expected to happen. I'm sure the evidence was in the report somewhere. But I got the news from CNN, days late, and then had to go read the details in the sitrep. I felt kind of misled. To be clear I'm not saying you were intentionally trying to hide the info or anything like that. Blame me for not reading the sitreps daily. I'm just saying that I can maybe see why Linnea was frustrated.
Sorry to hear about Linnea's departure but perhaps it's an opportunity to reflect on the goals and direction of the Podcast. I don't personally get much benefit from it. I appreciate the occasional snark and dark humour but getting a rapidly aging SiteRep read to me isn't compelling. I suspect it's of more benefit to those who don't also get the daily SiteRep. Perhaps others feel differently to me but the repetition and overall length of the Podcast are a problem. I'm really just needing a summary and to be helped to understand what it all means (as much as this is possible). The Podcasts I've appreciated most have been those where David Obelcz fills in and provides his assessments in a somewhat freeform manner. (The one he did on Bakhmut some months ago -- sorry not going to look up the episode date -- was a good example and illuminating. It stood in contrast to other media reports at the time.) Perhaps a weekly Podcast which summarizes key events and assesses the overall direction might be more achievable for the staff? Not trying to meddle. I appreciate what Malcontent News staff and volunteers are achieving.
