The JENeral Dispatch Vol 1
Welcome to the first issue of The JENeral Dispatch. Before we look ahead, here’s the piece that started it all…
Signal vs. Noise
Cutting Through the Clickbait: A Veteran Journalist on Redefining Media Commentary
A Personal Note: Why I'm Back
Twelve years ago, I walked away from PopStar.com, where I served as Chief Editor and Sr Entertainment Writer. I had interviewed Ariana Grande, Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, and nearly everyone from American Idol's golden era. I sat across from rock legends like Bret Michaels and Geoff Tate, literary icon Jackie Collins, and countless others who trusted me with their stories.
My crowning moment came when I covered Dennis Hopper receiving his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He was dying of cancer. I wrote about that ceremony with the reverence it deserved - capturing not just the event, but the man's legacy. His brother-in-law reached out to thank me, saying the piece was "both moving and accurate. Please know that I intend to share it with Dennis."
That's what real journalism looks like. That's the standard I lived by. That's what I watched die.
I stepped away because I had more pressing priorities at the time. But I've spent years watching colleagues trade integrity and pride for mediocrity. I've watched an industry I loved become unrecognizable. It made me angry and disheartened. And if I see one more article by what was once a respected publication riddled with run-on sentences and misspelled words, I'm going to lose it.
So destiny is calling me back. I'm not here to play nice. I'm here to make media matter again — and if that ruffles feathers, good.
The Manifesto
The Noise Problem
Everyone has a microphone, but few have something worth saying. The digital age democratized voice but destroyed discernment.
The Death of Expertise
When everyone's an expert, no one is. The collapse of credibility in the age of instant opinions.
The Algorithm's Grip
How engagement metrics murdered meaningful discourse and turned commentary into performance art.
The Speed Trap
First doesn't mean best. The race to publish is killing the craft of storytelling.
Finding Signal
What separates meaningful commentary from digital debris. The comeback blueprint.
The New Standard
Building commentary that resonates, not just reverberates. The fierce comeback begins.
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The Noise Problem
I remember sitting across from Simon Cowell in 2012, asking him about the future of entertainment. He paused, looked directly at me, and said something that haunts me today: "The problem isn't finding talent anymore. It's finding someone who can recognize it."
He was talking about music, but he might as well have been predicting the future of media commentary.
Today, everyone has a microphone. Twitter threads masquerade as investigative journalism. TikTok hot takes replace thoughtful analysis. Instagram stories become breaking news. The democratization of voice was supposed to elevate discourse. Instead, it created an ocean of noise where signal drowns.
The math is brutal: millions of voices, but precious few worth hearing. We've confused volume with value, reach with relevance, viral with vital. The result? A media landscape where the loudest voice wins, not the most insightful one.
I've watched this transformation from the inside. I've seen what we lost. Noise might be louder than ever. But I believe the signal isn't gone — it's waiting to be amplified. And that's why I'm back.
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The Death of Expertise
When I interviewed Adam Lambert after his American Idol finale, I had done my homework. I knew his musical influences, his theater background, his journey. I asked questions that revealed something new, something deeper than the surface-level celebrity profile.
That relationship continued through a series of articles I wrote about him across PopStar and other outlets. His "Glamberts" responded with enthusiastic feedback. I even wrote a piece titled "The Anatomy of the Adamgasm" - a term his fans had coined that I explored in depth. When I mentioned it to Adam, he asked if I'd created the phrase. I told him his fans had, and that I'd just written about it. He signed the article in my presence, laughing at the term.
That preparation, that expertise, that respect for the craft - it's become a relic.
Today's commentary culture has convinced us that expertise is elitist, that preparation is pretentious, that knowing your subject deeply somehow makes you less relatable. We've created a world where the uninformed opinion carries the same weight as the educated analysis.
The result? Commentary that skims the surface, analysis that lacks context, and opinions that crumble under the slightest scrutiny. We've traded depth for accessibility and lost both in the process.
Expertise isn't dead. But it's on life support. And if we don't fight for it, noise will bury it forever.
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The Algorithm's Grip
I spent some time interviewing Jackie Collins about her writing process, her view on romance in literature, her thoughts on feminism in fiction. I asked her, "Is truth indeed stranger than fiction?" She said without a doubt - if she put into her books what really happened, no one would believe it. And her books were racy to the core already! The resulting piece was thoughtful, nuanced, and deeply human. That interview - "Exclusive Interview: Jackie Collins (Goddess of Vengeance)" - is still on YouTube today. She greets me with "Hey Jen" like we're old friends, because that's what real relationships in journalism create.
Today, that same interview would be chopped into clickbait: "Jackie Collins' SHOCKING Confession About Romance!" "You Won't BELIEVE What This Author Said About Feminism!"
In today's economy, intimacy and depth have no currency.
The algorithm doesn't reward nuance. It rewards reaction. It doesn't promote understanding; it promotes engagement. The result is commentary designed not to inform or illuminate, but to trigger, to inflame, to generate clicks at any cost.
We've turned commentary into performance art, where the goal isn't truth but virality. Where the measure of success isn't impact but impressions. Where the loudest, most outrageous take wins, regardless of its accuracy or value.
The algorithm has convinced us that outrage is truth and that performance is journalism. And we've swallowed it whole.
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The Speed Trap
When Dennis Hopper received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I could have rushed out a quick piece about the ceremony. Instead, I took time to understand the moment - a dying legend being honored, a career being celebrated, a life being remembered.
That piece took hours to craft. It required research, reflection, and reverence. His family treasured it because it captured something deeper than just the event - it captured the man.
Today's media operates on a different timeline. First is everything. Speed trumps accuracy. Breaking news breaks journalism. The race to publish has created a culture where being first matters more than being right, where hot takes replace thoughtful analysis.
We've forgotten that some stories deserve time, that some subjects require reflection, that some moments need to breathe before they can be properly understood and shared.
The tragedy is, we've trained audiences to expect fast food — and forgotten to serve them a meal worth remembering.
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Finding Signal
Readers once told me they framed my articles on their walls. Not because they were perfect — but because they said I put into words what they had always felt but couldn't express. That's not ego talking - that's the power of real connection through authentic commentary.
Signal isn't about being the loudest voice in the room. It's about being the clearest. It's not about having the hottest take - it's about having the most honest one. It's not about going viral - it's about creating something valuable enough to keep.
Real signal emerges from preparation, expertise, and genuine care for your subject and your audience. It comes from asking better questions, not just louder ones. It develops from understanding context, not just capturing attention.
The commentators who matter aren't the ones chasing trends - they're the ones setting standards. They're not following the conversation; they're elevating it.
Signal is what happens when expertise meets authenticity, when preparation meets passion, when respect meets rebellion. And if we don't fight for signal, all we'll be left with is noise.
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The New Standard
Eddie Money was a loose cannon - in the most charming way. He had no edit button but was gifted with a childlike naivety about his own celebrity and possessed a kind of self-deprecating humor. When he came to Chicago, I was often the only journalist invited backstage or on his bus before shows. He trusted me because he knew I wouldn't print anything that would damage him. He respected my integrity and told me so. He signed a picture of himself for my children that said "Rock and Roll forever," then said to me, "Tell them to keep it alive." And we did, along with his memory. I still have his cell phone number in my contacts. Rest his soul. I can't bring myself to delete it.
That's what real relationships in journalism look like. Built on trust, respect, and the understanding that access is a privilege, not a right to exploit.
I'm not coming back to play by the old rules or the new ones. I'm coming back to write my own. The industry sold out integrity for mediocrity.
And I'm not buying.
My platform launches with a simple promise: New Voice. New Lens. No Filter. But behind that promise is a commitment to the standards that made journalism matter - preparation, expertise, respect, and the courage to tell the truth even when it's uncomfortable.
This isn't about nostalgia for the "good old days." This is about bringing the best of what we learned then to the opportunities we have now. It's about using new platforms to deliver old-school quality. It's about proving that audiences still hunger for depth, still crave authenticity, still reward excellence.
The fierce comeback isn't just mine - it's ours. Every reader who chooses signal over noise, every creator who prioritizes quality over quantity, every voice that refuses to be drowned out by the digital din.
I'm back not just to comment on culture, but to change it. To show that commentary can be both entertaining and enlightening, both accessible and excellent, both edgy and ethical.
The signal is coming through loud and clear. Are you ready to listen?
The mic is on...
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Platform launches October 2025 • New Voice. New Lens. No Filter.