I’ve been watching a growing trend in Tennessee politics that has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with performance. The newest example comes from two groups that claim to be “news organizations” but act more like campaign operatives with cameras. I’m talking about NowThis Impact and The Tennessee Holler—two progressive outlets that openly admit their activism, yet still pretend to play the role of journalists.
In the past few weeks, both have targeted Republican congressional candidate Matt Van Epps with what can only be described as ambush theater. These weren’t interviews. They were setups—loud, one-sided spectacles meant to embarrass, not inform.
The first incident came on October 28, when The Tennessee Holler—a site founded and operated by Justin Kanew, a failed Democratic congressional candidate who moved here from California and lost his 2018 bid for the same seat Van Epps now seeks—posted a video recorded inside a public building during a private campaign event. The Holler’s website states it is “a progressive news site amplifying voices throughout Tennessee,” but its behavior shows it’s more interested in shouting down political opponents than amplifying anyone’s voice.
In the footage, a Holler representative repeatedly badgers Van Epps with questions about tariffs, billionaires, and the Epstein case, even throwing in a childish taunt about whether he had “a booger on his finger.” When staff asked him to leave, he refused, arguing that because the building was public, he had a right to stay.
Then came November 7, when NowThis Impact, a vertical of the national NowThis brand that markets itself as “the No. 1 social news brand in the world,” released its own ambush. At Nashville International Airport, a NowThis Impact representative approached Van Epps without warning and launched into a string of loaded questions about “the Epstein files,” Speaker Mike Johnson, and supposed billionaire donors. The goal was obvious: provoke a reaction for social media, not gather information.
That isn’t journalism. That’s harassment with a camera.
Both NowThis Impact and The Tennessee Holler claim to be legitimate news organizations, but they behave like political hit squads. They understand that no serious campaign would grant them a formal interview because their methods are openly antagonistic, so they create confrontation in public places to manufacture viral “gotcha” moments. These clips aren’t about truth—they’re about narrative control.
If they actually cared about informing voters, they would apply the same scrutiny to the candidates they support. For instance, will The Tennessee Holler ever ask Democratic nominee Aftyn Behn if she still believes Tennessee is a “racist state,” as she wrote in her 2019 Tennessean op-ed? Somehow, I doubt it.
What’s worse is that these tactics cheapen real journalism. They erode public trust and further poison our political discourse. There was a time when reporters pursued fairness, even when they had opinions of their own. Today, we’re watching the rise of activist media outlets masquerading as journalists—using deception and spectacle to push their politics.
Having traded the campaign trail for a camera, Kanew has simply continued his politics under a different label. The Tennessee Holler’s “journalism” is activism by another name. It’s part of a broader trend: people moving to Tennessee from states they claim to have fled, only to import the same political attitudes and media tactics that drove those states into dysfunction.
Let’s be honest—these ambushes don’t help anyone understand where candidates stand on the issues. They do nothing to inform voters or strengthen democracy. They’re just another sideshow in a political circus that already has too many clowns.
It’s time to call it what it is: performance activism dressed up as journalism. And the more we tolerate it, the more our public square will rot.
Brandon Windsor is the Editor & Publisher of TNPOLITICO.
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