By Niamh Withers
Andrew Callaghan, a low-budget YouTuber with nothing but a lavalier mic and some cameras, is paving the way for aspiring Gen Z journalists everywhere. Callaghan began his online journalism career on the YouTube channel, All Gas No Brakes, interviewing a variety of humorous characters and editing clips together to create comical videos for his viewers. The young journalist has come a long way since then by starting his own channel, Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan. From that day forward, his videos have taken a much different approach, focusing on the political changes and culture war occurring throughout the United States. Callaghan offers little to no opinion in his videos, allowing the affected persons to speak from experience. Along with maintaining the same filming concepts from All Gas No Brakes, he can capture what most news channels these days are unable to, reality.
In an age where distrust and extremism consume most broadcast media, it’s relieving to witness journalists like Andrew Callaghan produce such raw and genuine content. Living solely off the money he makes from his Patreon subscribers, it’s clear Callaghan is passionate about what he does. He puts himself in dangerous situations to capture events first-hand, even entering Ukraine to document the ongoing war affecting millions of innocent civilians there. Callaghan becomes up close and personal with each person he interviews, reminding us that the people shown in the media are human beings, not just random figures on the news. He sheds light on disadvantaged communities, such as O Block in Chicago, whose adversities are rarely discussed in mainstream media. His O Block video offered a platform to people whose voices often go unheard. The personal is political, and Andrew Callaghan conveys this message throughout his content.
Callaghan received his biggest break when he partnered with A24 to produce a movie following his cross-country road trip during the months leading up to the January 6 insurrection, which is set to stream on HBOMax. It’s speculated that Callaghan was there to witness the violent uprising on the Capitol, offering behind-the-scenes footage of what occurred that day. The documentary has yet to be given a release date or title, but will hopefully be released sometime next year.
If you’d like to checkout Callaghan’s content, you can do so by clicking on the following links: