Channel 5: The Future of Journalism

A young creative with his finger on the pulse, 3.4 GPA, multimedia journalist, interested in creating anthropological road-based study of American oddity.

Andrew Callaghan, Nic Mosher, and Evan Gilbert-Katz were the young creators of the journalism YouTube Channel All Gas No Brakes. The channel followed Callaghan and crew as they traveled across the country in an RV exploring the weird and upsetting aspects of American culture. Callaghan did one-on-one interviews at events such as Proud Boys rallies, Black Lives Matter protests, and many other events that would strike interesting and complex conversations. Unfortunately, in early March 2021 Callaghan announced that he was no longer a part of the show. At the time, he noted that he did not read his full contract with the show’s owner, Doing Things Media, when he first signed on, calling it a “Lesson Learned” on his Instagram. The New York Times revealed that Callaghan and members of his team were fired from the company, which fully owns the IP, brand, and name of the show. Tensions between Callaghan and Doing Things Media allegedly grew because Callaghan was interested in tackling current events and politics, but the company wanted him to focus on “party content” instead.

Luckily, on April 11, 2021, Andrew started up the “Channel 5” YouTube channel, with the video “Miami Beach Spring Break” where Andrew interviews intoxicated beachgoers in a form of “Gonzo-Journalism”. Gonzo-Journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the interviewer as part of the story in a first-person narrative. Andrew and his crew have been continuing to make content through the “Channel 5” persona, and his videos are now, even more than ever, in mainstream media headlines. Most recently, Andrew was interviewed by VICE and The New York Times, both of which ask him questions about his very original and interesting style in interviewing, and why he does what he does. To this, Andrew answered with “Only, like, the lamest creators analyze themselves, package it with buzz words, and distribute it. I just go outside and put a suit on and just talk to people”. Speaking of his suits, Andrew usually gets them from a nearby Goodwill and tries to make them as scuffed as possible, to have a showcase of incompletion and imperfection in the videos. He states that he “enjoys the anonymity in the channel”. He recently sold his “All Gas No Brakes” suit for $15,100 and gave the money to multiple charities. This was after he was fired from the “AGNB” platform. His idea to wear the suit came from when he was 18, when he decided to dress up to go into the VICE office building in New York City to pitch the idea of AGNB.

Currently on the road in his RV, Andrew and his crewmates discuss future events and route plans to attend them. They all accumulate at night and crouch over Andrew’s laptop, as they decide what clips to insert into their videos and where they should go next. Most recently, they attended the HIVE music festival, where Callaghan was able to interview several upcoming rappers and concertgoers. After returning from the event, Andrew mentions that he had gained many followers on his Instagram from the event, and that it wasn’t a numbers thing for him. He explains that his Instagram has such a wide following of different groups and parties he has interviewed, and he believes that this is exactly what you want out of a news social media, not one side or another, more altogether. “No more of that He said She said crap”