Nas Daily to Wil Dasovich: ‘You are a news channel, whether you like it or not’

Arab-Israeli vlogger Nuseir Yassin, more popularly known as Nas of the channel Nas Daily, says content creators don’t have to avoid talking about news or politics in their vlogs as he discussed the role of content creators with fellow vlogger Wil Dasovich.

Wil was a guest on the second episode of Nas’ podcast Nas Talks, which was released on July 15. In the episode, they talked about vlogging. At one point, Nas brought up the recent shutdown of media company ABS-CBN and what this means for content creators now.

“Recently the Philippines cancelled the biggest media company in the country, right? ABS-CBN or something, correct?” Nas said.

“A big source of information just got disappeared and something else has to appear to fill that void,” he said, noting that Filipinos now go online for information.

Nas went on to say that he is working to move his Nas Daily into a channel that offers both entertainment and news. He asked Wil if it’s something he’s thinking of doing himself on his channel.

Wil responded by saying he tries to stay away from politics.

“I kind of have a golden rule, [which] is I try to limit and not talk about politics because you’re always gonna upset a huge group of people,” Wil said.

Nas challenged Wil, reminding Wil that he had, in fact, already spoken about politics.

“How do I know that? Because we partnered together on the project. It’s the Taiwan project. That is politics, that is information,” Nas said.

“You uploaded a video in which we talked about Taiwan’s response to the coronavirus. That’s not divisive politics. That’s good news, but that is still news, which you have done,” he continued.

Wil agreed, but said that what they did was positive news.

“It wasn’t divisive, so I just gravitate towards that ray of light,” Wil said.

Nas responded: “That’s fine, right? News doesn’t have to be a bad thing. When I talk about news, I don’t say the bad things. I mean, I just learn something about the world from you.”

“I mean, if you want to make it positive, then it’s positive, if you want to make it negative, then it’s negative. But you are a news channel, whether you like it or not,” Nas said.

‘An inactive news channel’

Wil went on to explain that he is mindful of how things affect him and his emotions. He said that he has noticed that the more he watches the news, it makes him more sad, and he’s doing what he can to stay happy.

“Because simply put, when I’m happy, I’m able to transfer that energy to everyone who watches me and make them happy. The easiest way to make others around you happy is to be happy yourself, so I limit the news as much as possible,” he said.

Wil said that he wants to keep his content light because he wants people to watch his videos “because they wanna rest and relax and be stress-free for 10 minutes.”

Nas “vehemently disagreed” with Wil, saying that he may not have covered current events “because nothing major has happened yet.” But Nas said that if something does happen – for instance a natural disaster, or a declaration of war, Wil won’t be able to ignore it.

“If the Philippines right now declares war on China, China declares war on the Philippines, you’re not gonna make a vlog and say, ‘Hey guys let’s play video games!’ I don’t see it. Impossible,” Nas told Wil.

“So you’re essentially, I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’re a dormant news channel, like an inactive news channel right now. But I’m willing to bet 10,000 dollars right now that if God forbid, some major event happens like a tsunami or a war or an earthquake or whatever, you are gonna become a news channel, and a news channel for good but nonetheless to tell the news,” he continued.

Wil said he agreed with Nas 100%, but hopes that those things won’t happen.

“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” Wil said.

“There are so many things that happen in life that are unexpected. It is true in life and that is even more so on social media which is why, Nas, you and me are still able to create content today and make a living out of it,” he said.

Wil, a Filipino-American vlogger, started his YouTube channel in 2014. His vlogs focus on his travels, and his life with his family and girlfriend, cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao.

He also used his vlog to document his journey with cancer, from being diagnosed in August 2017, to undergoing chemotherapy, to being declared cancer-free in February 2018. His channel currently has over 2.5 million subscribers.

Nas is known for his 1-minute videos, which he started posting on YouTube with the goal of making one every day for 1,000 days to document his travels. His videos end with the tagline, “That’s one minute, see you tomorrow!”

In January 2019, he completed his 1,000 video goal and has since started his own media company based in Singapore. His Facebook page has over 7.5 million likes. – Rappler.com