Editorial: Why You Won't Find Me Chasing Clicks

Over the last several months, especially over the last week and a half, I've been asked the same question repeatedly: Why don't I comment on what municipal leaders have said on other podcasts? Why don't I react to council meetings or provide colour commentary on the challenges local councils are facing? The answer is actually quite simple.

When I rebranded in 2023 as the Cross Border Network, I made a conscious decision that would shape everything the network would become. I decided I would only publish content that I personally filmed or produced. If I wasn't there to witness it, ask the questions, and tell the story myself, then it wasn't going on the network.

It wasn't a business decision, and it certainly wasn't one designed to maximize views or subscribers. It was an ethical decision, and it's one I have no intention of abandoning.

Today's media environment rewards reaction. Every interview, podcast, council meeting, or social media clip is almost instantly dissected by someone looking to add their opinion.

There is no shortage of creators who build audiences by reacting to someone else's work, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that if it's the model they've chosen. It's simply not mine. I've never wanted to become known as the person who sits behind a microphone commenting on another creator's interview or another journalist's reporting. If someone else spent hours attending a council meeting, conducting interviews, editing footage, and publishing a story, I don't believe it's my place to build content around reacting to their work.

If I want to cover the same issue, then I should do what they did: show up, ask the questions, film the event, and produce my own reporting. Sometimes that's inconvenient, sometimes it's expensive, and sometimes it's simply not possible. When that's the case, I accept that I won't cover the story.

Will that cost me views? Probably.

Will it mean fewer people stream my content? Maybe.

But I honestly couldn't care less. Ethics have always been one of the values I've taken the greatest pride in, and I'm not prepared to trade those principles for clicks, engagement, or algorithm-driven success.

Modern platforms reward outrage, conflict, and instant reaction. The easiest way to grow an audience is often to comment on something that's already gone viral instead of creating something original yourself. That approach clearly works for many people, but success isn't measured solely by analytics.

For me, success is building trust. I want people to know that if they see something on the Cross Border Network, it came directly from me. I was there. I filmed it. I asked the questions. I witnessed what happened.

That clarity matters because context matters. It's easy to watch a thirty-second clip from a two-hour meeting and form a strong opinion, but it's much harder to understand everything that happened before and after that moment. That's why I believe people deserve original reporting and complete conversations rather than commentary built on someone else's highlights.

The Cross Border Network was never intended to be another reaction channel. It was created to tell original stories, document communities, and have meaningful conversations with people directly. That requires more work, more travel, and more patience. It also means accepting that other outlets will sometimes publish stories before I do, or that I won't publish anything at all. I'm comfortable with that because credibility is built one decision at a time.

Every creator has to decide what matters most. Some prioritize speed, some prioritize entertainment, and some prioritize scale. I've chosen to prioritize trust. Trust takes years to earn and only moments to lose, and once people begin wondering whether you're creating your own journalism or simply filtering someone else's work through your opinion, that trust begins to erode.

So, to everyone who has asked why I don't react to another podcast, critique every council meeting, or weigh in on every headline making the rounds online, here's my answer. It's not because I don't have opinions, and it's certainly not because I'm afraid of difficult conversations. It's because I made a commitment to myself and to the audience that if I'm going to tell a story, it will be one I've done the work to tell. If you're looking for original conversations, firsthand reporting, and content created from the ground where the stories actually happen, I hope you'll continue to follow the Cross Border Network.

If you're looking for someone to react to clips from someone else's work, there are plenty of talented creators who do exactly that. I genuinely wish them success.

But that's never been my lane, and as long as the Cross Border Network exists, it never will be.