There was a time when you needed a commissioning editor’s permission to shape British culture. You needed a column, a slot on the telly or a friend at the BBC who owed you a favour. That time has passed, and most of the institutions that used to hold the keys are still working out where they left them. Some of the people now setting the agenda are filming in their bedrooms, and they have audiences that would make a broadsheet editor weep.
That shift is what the new issue of The Detail is about. Issue 005, Content Creators Shaping Culture, looks at the creators changing how a generation thinks about the future, about Black identity and about what it means to build something of your own in Britain today. These are people with real influence over the national conversation, whatever the follower counts suggest about their ambitions. We wanted to take them seriously, which is rarer than it should be.
Paps is our cover star, shot in our studio in South East London, and the conversation we had with him sets the tone for everything that follows. He is thoughtful about the responsibility that comes with a platform, and surprisingly honest about the parts of the job nobody films. Around him you’ll find features on Zayz, Aziza Zawadi and Jordan Kuponiyi, each one asking what their work says about where British culture is heading.
For anyone new here, The Detail is our thematic digital magazine. Each issue has a single theme and a guest editor who helps us reach the people worth hearing from. Past issues have featured Lord Hastings, Michaela Coel, SliderCuts and Khalil Madovi, whose issue on being Black British was the last one we published. Issue 005 picks up where that conversation left off.
You can download the full issue here:
Please share it with someone who’d enjoy it, particularly anyone who still thinks “content creator” is a polite word for unemployed. If you’re new to the Substack, subscribe for free and you’ll get the latest issue of The Detail as soon as it lands, alongside Editor’s Desk every Monday and Sense Check on Fridays.
Mike
Common Sense Network