How a tech reporter wrote about OnlyFans as a business

Trevor Pyle of Nieman Storyboard writes about how Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, who covers artificial intelligence and algorithms, wrote about OnlyFans, which he called a labor story.

Pyle writes, “Harwell’s story probes OnlyFans not as a salacious sex site, but as a business. While Harwell doesn’t skirt around the online account’s sexual content, he’s more interested in the site’s calculated nature, grueling pace and ambitious staff of owners and employees.

“‘Don’t be afraid of stories involving sex, porn or other topics of legitimate inquiry we often pretend, out of journalistic comfort or convenience, don’t exist,’ Harwell said. ‘These are real people and they deserve to be understood, just like anyone.’

“His story on OnlyFans also holds lessons in how to use jargon to immerse readers in the story’s world, where to find thriving and useful subcultures online, and a nod to the swoop-in reality of reporters as vampires.”

Read more here.