Feeling “incredibly frustrated” at the lack of Australian outlets taking the political opinions of young people seriously, a then-22-year-old Hannah Ferguson co-founded Cheek Media in late 2020.
Five years on, a steady flow of think-pieces, incisive analysis and memes – all skilfully targeted at digital audiences – has netted Cheek Media more than 200,000 Instagram followers and 20,000 (3000 paid) Substack subscribers.
“The big [audience] growth happens at significant political events,” Ferguson, now sole owner and CEO of Cheek Media, tells PIJI.
“And it’s not just necessarily election times, it’s also any issue that requires the correction of disinformation [or] an alternative angle.
“Something like the trial of Bruce Lehrmann; so much of the mainstream media was calling it ‘the Brittany Higgins trial’ – basic corrections and basic media literacy. [It] was a huge growth period for Cheek because people were starting to develop their own critical thinking skills and look elsewhere, and understand the failures of legacy media.”
Commentating on hot-button issues, from Israel’s actions in Palestine to the assassination of American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, can be a doubled-edged sword. The ultra-like-minded rush to applause and those with opposing views are quick to lash out.
Both reactions can be overwhelming, but Ferguson says it is important to remember that the people flooding comment sections and inboxes only represent a particular social media echo chamber, not the entire world.
Focusing on the mantra “every storm will pass”, she is comfortable standing by her opinion pieces knowing she has done due diligence.
“The news is getting increasingly inflammatory and toxic,” Ferguson says.
“Sometimes having the take that provides the layers to a discussion … can inflame the far-right more because they don’t like people bringing nuance to a subject. It’s tough because in trying to work through the issue and different emotions, and not just pick a side, the algorithm is almost angrier at you in your refusal to bend to the echo chambers.”
“It’s always hard to balance follower growth and engagement during these tough times with the fact that there needs to be a lot of mental health management when you’re reporting on such significant issues and experiencing such significant backlash. But … the news cycle will move on very quickly.”
Location, location, location
Building a masthead from scratch is difficult, and choosing the right platform to draw the initial audience can be essential.
Ferguson considered TikTok (the “Wild West” of social media) hard to master and tried Facebook, but found it to be an increasingly right-wing space where community groups could get “incredibly toxic really quickly”.
Thus, Cheek Media settled on Instagram as its main home, hoping to create a community forum that changed how the public square debated issues and presented new ideas, she tells PIJI.
Paid Patreon subscriptions offered behind-the-scenes content, but Ferguson admits the offerings were “inconsistent” and not “genuinely good”.
The transition from Patreon to Substack in early 2024 was a choice made to offer more diverse pieces and voices, something Ferguson reaffirmed her commitment to in June when she began to commission work from freelance contributors.
The looming threat of Meta eliminating news and commentary in response to pressure to pay local publishers was another factor that motivated the move to Substack.
“Substack is a great place for longer format, but it’s also a good ecosystem where we can push forward and build a new … more global community,” Ferguson says.
“[Building] our own website would be ideal in future, but for now it’s really about building that ecosystem and operating where other indie writers and outlets are.”
Cheek Media is running at a profit and has doubled revenue over the last three years, Ferguson says. Revenue streams include paid Substack subscribers, part-ownership of the podcast Big Small Talk and paid partnerships that align with audience values.
Despite a digital-only presence originally targeted towards Gen Z, Cheek Media is not just for the passionate young progressives.
Ferguson says followers are predominantly women aged 25-34, but more over-50s follow Cheek Media than under-25s. Some of the most “dedicated” paid Substack subscribers are aged over 70.
“I think there’s a lot of older women who want to stay part of the conversation, have very strong political views they’ve felt are unheard by the mainstream media and they want that sense of community and connection,” she explains.
Earlier this year, Ferguson revealed her intention to run as an independent at the next federal election, a move which may require a future step back from Cheek Media.
What that will exactly look like, she isn’t sure.
But she tells PIJI it feels like time to “agitate in a different forum”.
Hope for the future
In Ferguson’s opinion, the rise of binary thinking and extremism are among the biggest challenges facing Cheek Media, along with news fatigue.
“People are apathetic and withdrawn,” she says.
“It’s harder to engage with the news than ever before, so keeping people hopeful, keeping people engaged, but also fighting the algorithm, which is preferencing the right, is tough.”
She is also concerned about the concentration of media ownership in Australia; as of 2022, just four companies controlled 84 per cent of the country’s newspaper market, an increase of six per cent from 2019. Another four companies hold a 77 per cent market share in the radio sector.
Ferguson says the government should investigate how this concentration was able to occur and grow over the past decade.
Despite the hardships and feeling that independent media are being left out of conversations about measures like the government’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive, she remains optimistic.
“I think that independent media in Australia has never been stronger,” she says.
“There are so many amazing emerging platforms coming out, and it’s just such a privilege to be in that ecosystem right now.”
Written by Sezen Bakan