A filmed interview in which Josh Trent asks Peter Santenello about the mainstream media’s agenda and the value of authentic, on-the-ground storytelling. Santenello argues mainstream outlets prioritize profit and click-triggering narratives (race, gender, environment), contends institutional investigative journalism has declined, and explains the limitations solo creators face; he also recounts personal experiences from living abroad, entrepreneurship, border reporting, and a risky Iran trip where his camera was stolen.
Chapters
What do you think the media's agenda actually is? And why are you so passionate about telling the stories that the media doesn't?
Okay. The media's agenda is about making money. Okay. It's not about creating a better society or more mental health. It's about triggering people. I think so. Okay. The big ones right now are race, gender, and I'd say environment. Do I want there to be less racism? 100%. Do I want anyone being marginalized for their gender or whatever? Of course not. And do I want a cleaner environment? Of course. But I think a lot of these things are done in triggering ways that divide people and actually make things worse than better. That's what I'm seeing. I was out of the US for four years. This last time, I didn't spend a minute on looking at what was going on. I was gone out of the US for the whole Trump years. I didn't pay one bit of attention to what was going on here.
Did your mental health reflect that?
Well, I don't know because I have a lot of tension with. I was trying to figure out how I was going to make videos, and at the beginning there was no support and I'm not making any money and I'm like, how am I going to figure this out? So I don't know if my mental health did better because I was in my own, like, in between two worlds. I had a business. I was running from abroad, but in the States. But it was sort of falling apart and it had an expiration date because you can only do absentee owner for so long, at least in that type of business. And I'm like, what do I really want to do in life? I want to be one of those people that does what they love. Like, I really want to be one of them. And I'm going to do it. I'm going to try as hard as I can until I get to that. But sometimes it's hard because you don't even know what that thing is. You truly love how it looks like as far as a job, like, I couldn't see that it would come to this even. Even two years ago.
Yeah, looking back, you were a cyclist, you were an entrepreneur. There was a lot that you had your hands in. What do you attest to your success?
Just being stubborn, not giving up. So I had a business. I moved to San Francisco because I had a great, great tech idea. I was going to just crush it with it and a guy with no tech background. So I'll go to San Francisco and it's basically an app that connects people through common interests when traveling. So if you go to Berlin, you love running. You type that in Berlin running. It would match you with the person your dates. It would match you with the person. I think that's so cool. It would connect you because people connect through common interests traditionally. And wow, who doesn't want that? You know, I didn't know anything about tech. I worked at it for three years. I sunk all my money into it. I had a development team in India and I was, I had one woman who really believed in it, Nikki. She was awesome and she was helping me with marketing, which she had skills in. But I was really over my head and I finally gave up on that. And then I was just like, I don't know if it's midlife crisis, but I was just like, what am I going to do? And then it was just like I owned a home that I was renting that was my backstop in case I would run out of money completely. I would sell that and live off that until I figured out what I was doing. But the Runway was getting pretty short and it's almost like the, the pandemic saved me because we're actually going to move to Italy from Ukraine in 2020. And then we decided to come back to the States and I just never really thought of making content in the States and now I'm loving it. And just by doing that too. The embodiment of land of opportunity is the ad revenue is way better here. So I could actually make a living because US eyeballs are going to be worth a lot more to Google than Ukrainian or Iranian. Just the ad revenue, they're going to get way more for a watch. And then, wow, I can actually make money at this thing. Okay, let's see where this goes. And then I became fascinated with the States. And maybe it's the media that I think the media drives me because I just, I try to avoid a lot of it. But I'll occasionally put on NPR and I'm like, oh God, this is so like, it's so one. There's some great programming there, they have some great stories, but a lot of the news is just so one sided. Like the border, for example. They're never going to give a full picture of the border situation. That to me is just. Is like, how is that possible? My mom years ago was so angry about the border and now with this administration hasn't said a word. And it's only because the messaging she gets, she has a few channels and this is Most people, right, isn't reporting anymore, so therefore there's no concern. Well, in truth, the problem's gotten worse.
Do you feel like true journalism is, is true, honest, authentic journalism actually dead?
I think at an institutional level, yes. Because we need deep dive investigative journalism, which takes resources and money in a big institution. I can't do that. No. No solo creator can do that. No even small team can do that. You can't survive. I got to post weekly on YouTube if I really wanted to do the deep, deep, deep dive on the border. I'm talking like, let me go down there for a half year and make a two part documentary series out of it or something with all the finances and hit it from as many angles as possible. What I do is I meet up with someone. Like my last video down there, I met up with the sheriff and he brought me into his world. And I always tell my viewers, look, this is one angle in. This is my, this is what I'm seeing. I'm capturing it. Look at other content, you know, hit it from different angles. But true journalism, I mean, there are some great journalists out there, but as far as mainstream, there's no one. I mean, you know what you're going to get in any topic, if it's the border, if you watch Fox or cnn, you know the story you're going to get either one. If it's any one of these issues, you know exactly what's going to be delivered. And so I try to do it. I try to show what I see and I see things the way I see things in life. So I'm going to have a bias. But I try my best to be as authentic and honest as possible. Even if it's something I don't agree with, I keep rolling the camera. I'll let them speak about that. Doesn't mean I agree with it.
How do you challenge someone in a different culture that maybe you don't agree with to. To see your side? Not that they have to see your side. Okay, but how do you present when you're in an environment like for example, maybe something that happened when you're in the Chicano culture or when you're in a culture overseas that really maybe irritated some part of you? How do you, or do you even try to explain to them your side? You're literally just, just there to capture theirs?
More to capture, because some of these environments say if I'm in the hoods in East New York, right? I'm like in with the right people. I have a friend, Kashmir, he's Brought me in. We've done some great videos, but then I get brought into other stuff, and I don't know these people as well. And I'm in the world and I'm in the projects, and I'm in the elevator with them. I'm not going to start, like, nailing them hard because that could go really bad for me. And I honestly don't feel the need to, but I'll show it. A lot of my work is through, like, just the visuals. Pay attention. Here's what's happening. I don't need to explain it. We go out of the projects, he takes the bottle and chucks it on the green grass. You know, and there's a lot in that. You know, why? You know, whose responsibility is it to pick all that up? Do we need. Is it society's responsibility, as in, like, don't do that because this is where you live? Or do you think an agent, like, some city workers should come and do that? Like, maybe that's a bad example. But there are a lot of topics that come up and, like, I care about my neighborhood. I care about this. And then trash on the ground. And then you're like, okay, interesting. Okay. Where'd they learn that? Probably their father. Their father did the same thing. And that's how this stuff works.
Yes. Everything's passed down behaviorally, no matter what.
Yeah. But I do push back when I can and when I think it's warranted, but I can't always. I get in pretty deep sometimes and wouldn't be smart sometimes.
Can you. Can you take us to a moment where potentially. And just share whatever you can share? You know, if it's super vip, private, obviously you can't divulge, but.
Okay.
Have you ever been so deep in a situation you realize that your actual safety was being threatened? Like, you could potentially die or be injured?
Iran was weird. I've been there twice. The second time was weird. I had my camera stolen, I think, from a government official. I was followed. I know this through receptionists at hotels telling me I'm on the flirting, this line between being a tourist and a journalist. Because I do have. Even though my setup is minimalistic, I do have some wires and some audio equipment. And what is that? I go in as an Italian because I have an Italian passport, but I'm also American. I cleared that with the embassy, the Iranian embassy in Ukraine before I went. But still, there's a lot of gray zone. You start feeling like you're followed.
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