THE NEW FRONTIER OF
JOURNALISM | ANDREW CALLAGHAN
Written by: Ellaina Powers
INTERVIEWER TO INTERVIEWEE
Cultive Media had the pleasure of swapping seats with interviewer Andrew Callaghan of Channel 5, who gave an exclusive interview regarding the polarization of political parties, the new reality of 24-hour news reporting, and most importantly, his recent character profile titled “Dear Kelly”. Prior to the interview, Cultive Media’s own Dakota Pendleton was able to spend some unfiltered time with the journalist, giving him a small peek into Callaghan’s world.
Andrew Callaghan is the leading man for Channel 5 News, a mix of gonzo-style and politically focused video journalism which can be found on YouTube and Patreon. Channel 5 aims to shine light on the true reality much of modern-day journalism tends to twist for the consumerist-fueled agenda. He has crawled the tunnels of Las Vegas, braved endless political protests, explored the minds and methods of pickup artists, ridden with carjackers, and has even gone as far as crossing the United States-Mexico border. Callaghan has recently released another installment of Channel 5: an intimate look into the life of Kelly Johnson and the repercussions of home foreclosure and radical political beliefs.
Cultive's Dakota Pendleton and Andrew Callaghan in Los Angeles, CA
A WIN FOR INDEPENDENT MEDIA
On January 15th of this year, Andrew Callaghan released his independent documentary “Dear Kelly’ as a follow-up to his HBO documentary, “This Place Rules.” It has been a huge success for independent journalism, as it has set a record as the top director-to-consumer documentary since “Kony 2012” on its opening weekend alone.
“Dear Kelly” is Callaghan’s first self-owned documentary, which focuses on the life and lessons of conservative extremist, Kelly Johnson. Callaghan first met Kelly at a White Lives Matter rally back in 2021. The rally ended up being overtaken by Black Lives Matter protesters, and through the thick crowd, a beat-up BMW rolled up to the party, delivering an angry and determined man who didn’t even know what the rally was for. From the back of his car, he pieced together a flag pole, which almost resembled a battle staff. Unsurprisingly, the BLM protesters didn’t take kindly to Kelly’s hollering and Trump-flag-waving, and Kelly ultimately ended up being escorted away by a police officer. This was the start of Callaghan and Kelly’s relationship, and consequently where “Dear Kelly” began its formation. The first interview took place on April 11th, 2021, and the final shoot with Uncle Pearl was filmed a little over two weeks ago (from when Cultive’s interview took place on January 25th, 2025).
This is just a glimpse into the chaos of Kelly’s everyday life, which has been plagued by an alleged predatory lender named Bill Joiner. Kelly has spent years spreading the word and feeding the flame of his hatred for the unmasked lender, convinced that Joiner was the man responsible for the foreclosure of his home, which ultimately resulted in the crumbling of the Johnson family.
“I met [Kelly] at the end of what was like a reporter's burnout. We just talked to so many of the same people, repeating the same talking points that you just kind of get disinterested,” Callaghan explains, “Through [Kelly’s] story about Bill Joiner, I was able to get a glimpse into what factors caused his radicalization. And from there, I just kind of dove down into a rabbit hole myself for four years.”
Andrew Callaghan at David Choe's Album Release Party Reppin a Last Call Hoodie /Photo Dakota Pendleton
WHY KELLY?
What initially set Kelly apart from other protestors screaming outside of Planned Parenthood, or those proudly parading around Trump conventions, was his near-religious loathing for Bill Joiner paired with the raw grief and struggle that ripped Kelly’s once-established life into shreds. Throughout “Dear Kelly”, Callaghan flashes clips collected from tapes of the Johnson family, showing a proud father whose home once belonged to his children and dozens of animals. The love Kelly had for his bustling household was warm and bright, so the stark contrast of the man smiling down at his baby girl in his arms versus the man frothing at the mouth with rage on the street corner is almost enough to knock the wind out of viewers. The reality of this grim transformation caught Callaghan’s attention, so he sought to answer how Kelly nosedived so quickly, and if there was any way to help bring him back to the surface.
Eventually, Callaghan and his team had the idea to try and track down Bill Joiner in the hopes that a face-to-face confrontation would release Kelly from his fevered search of the faceless man. “We did everything we could to try to make a friendly introduction to Bill,” Callaghan discloses, “He didn’t want any part of the documentary, and that was the first phase of hopelessness. The second was probably after the intervention.”
TOO RIGHT FOR THE LEFT
During the creation of “Dear Kelly”, Callaghan was approached by the Johnson kids with the idea of holding an intervention for their father. At that point, Kelly was thinking of heading to Arizona to continue chasing his fanatic patriotism, and the family knew that if he made it, they would lose Kelly for good. Kelly’s three kids–Kyle, Kaylee, and Sydney–were there, alongside Kelly’s ex-wife, an intervention specialist, and the entire Channel 5 crew. All three kids are shown reading their respective letters to their father, serving him the cold truth of their reality and prompting him to get help. Callaghan also read his own letter to Kelly, expressing his gratitude for Kelly’s kindness during a trying time in his own personal life. Ultimately pieces of Callaghan’s letter were cut from the final version after Variety Magazine wrote an article titled “Andrew Callaghan’s New Documentary About How the MAGA Far Right Saved His Life.”
“Now I know if you show too much emotion on screen and they say that anyone who’s conservative helped you in any way, then they’re going to paint you as a conservative apologist.” This was not the most important takeaway of the intervention, however–by the end of it, Kelly did agree to go to rehab, which filled both his family and Callaghan with hope. Years of pent-up anger and bitterness were beginning to unravel, and Kelly seemed to be making large strides in his recovery, especially when it came to his feelings for Bill Joiner. “Him not being angry at Bill Joiner is definitely a victory in my book. If you were to compare Kelly in the opening Planned Parenthood scene, almost passing out from anger, yelling about Bill, and then imagine him just less than four years later being like, ‘I don’t really care about the guy’.”
THE REALITY OF THE RABBIT HOLE
Unfortunately, neither fans nor Callaghan were given the happy ending they were hoping for. “I saw [Kelly] at the premiere a few weeks ago and I said, ‘What do you think of the movie?’ Because he went to the physical premiere in Orange County and he said, ‘Yeah, Bill Joiner may have taken my home, but I’m not letting him take our country.’” Kelly did eventually make his way down to Arizona, much to the disappointment of his family, and still appears to be wrapped up in the radical conservative headspace that continues to take precedence over Kelly’s relationship with his family.
The outcome from the intervention almost made Callaghan give up on the documentary entirely. “I was like, oh, well if he didn’t make a full turnaround, then I must be a failure of a documentary filmmaker because you’re used to seeing those intervention shows on TV where they have the 90 days later and someone’s just a complete different person than they were before. When that didn’t happen, I was kind of like, well, what’s the conclusion?” Callaghan asks, reflecting on the final outcome, “And then I realized that that kind of is the conclusion of life. You can take small victories, but expecting people to just fully transform as a result of external pressure and factors is impossible.”
While “Dear Kelly” is not the first documentary Callaghan has under his belt, it is the first film he has released independently.
“This Place Rules” is Callaghan’s directorial debut and is a jarring, yet unsurprising, snapshot of America’s political state, specifically following the attack on the U.S. capitol on January 6th, 2021. The film follows Callaghan and his crew as they explore the American landscape and features numerous politically-fevered characters, including Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars. “This Place Rules” was eventually picked up by HBO and can still be streamed from their platform.
"DEAR KELLY" ON THE ROAD
Callaghan went on respective tours for each documentary, advertising in theaters all over the States. However, his experience with touring for “Dear Kelly” offered up more creative freedom and autonomy as a director. “During the Channel 5 Live tour, there was, I think, 36 different screenings. Every other screening I adjusted some feature of the film…little stuff that the audience might not totally realize I’m doing,” Callaghan describes. “For example, the intervention scene where Kelly is opening up about his past trauma and how he wants to move forward. At most of the live screenings, I had like a sappy song playing during that, and I felt like the music there was just a little bit too manipulative. It made it seem like he was going through his rebirth.” The feedback Callaghan received from these minor adjustments is what shaped the final version of “Dear Kelly”, which can be purchased off the film’s official website. These changes were crucial in preserving the film’s overall message, especially when released in the midst of a volatile political climate. “I played [the intervention scene] without the music at the Seattle showing, and it was way more impactful because people can just get the real raw information and make their own judgment about the vibe he’s trying to give across without being told to feel a certain way.”
Independent releases come with their own set of obstacles–such as budget restraints and weak advertisement infrastructure–but Callaghan has managed to find his niche and stuck to it, allowing outside factors to influence his creative process only when he wants them to. Though after years of covering the new deep state and its horde of radicalists, Callaghan has decided to hang his hat on political reporting.
“I think there’s more interesting subjects in the world than dissecting the mental framework of QAnon people. Like I’m doing a project soon about endangered languages in the U.S…to me, that’s a sick way to spend time.”
TIKTOK'S REAL CONCERN
Callaghan’s feature-length character profile allows its audience a raw look into the life of somebody who has suffered immense loss over a short period of time, and consequently how quickly that emotion can spiral into something just as harmful as its catalyst–which, in Kelly’s case, ended up being his extremely radical political beliefs that tore apart his family. Political journalism has become a warzone, but journalism as a whole has morphed into a new species of news reporting, especially with TikTok and features such as Instagram Reels feeding information to consumers in such a compact way.
“I think TikTok is the most dangerous social media application there is. Not because of Chinese interference, but because every other social media app…you have friends and you have followers and you talk to each other. TikTok is just an algorithm [and] TikTok personalities are engaged with people they’re not even connected to in real life.”
ACCEPTING NATURAL AND INHERENT BIAS
This disconnect makes it horrifyingly easy to dehumanize our peers and further create separation between people who may not see eye to eye at first glance. Though, with journalism, there’s no escape from bias, the ultimate by-product of belief, experience, and personal truth. “It’s a weird thing when you’re talking about bias because every single person has their biases and their implicit judgments based upon who they are, where they came from, and the experiences they had as a young person. Like I lost friends to police brutality when I was young in high school, way before the George Floyd situation happened. So when that did happen, I was automatically on the side of the protestors…[but] maybe if I was from a place where I grew up really tight with law enforcement and my dad was a cop, I wouldn't understand their grievances,” Callaghan expands, “So I think that once journalists can accept that nobody can actually be unbiased, I think we’re going to get to a better place…what I’m going to do in the future is I’m going to stop saying that I am unbiased and just say ‘I’m trying to tell the truth’, because I feel like that word is so loaded. And once you say you’re unbiased, you become a punching bag for people who disagree with you.”
Callaghan goes on to describe the two groups journalism can be separated into. “There’s straightforward, like Associated Press, press reporting, where they release a bulletin about how many people died at an event or what the weather’s like. And that is about giving people facts and information. The second part, which is more in line with documentary filmmaking–this sounds corny–but just telling human stories, man. Real, intimate zoom-ins of people who are affected by the trials and tribulations of the modern era.”
Unfortunately, the separation between consumer and story can make it hard for truth to prosper over entertainment value. “Journalism is taking a pivot where you have people who are masquerading themselves as independent, anti-corporate journalists, yet they’re following the identical incentive structure of the mainstream press. You know, clickbait titles, stoking fear and outrage, false light, all these things. So the world of independent journalism is just as sketchy as the world of corporate media.”
TURNING PAGES FOR CHANNEL 5
Despite the constant gnashing of teeth, Callaghan continues to pursue his journalistic passion, even doing so in ways separate from digital journalism. It was not his initial intent to be a video journalist–in fact, Callaghan had actually gained his footing by releasing his own zine. Now, after years of YouTube interviews and Patreon posts, Callaghan has decided to go back to his OG dream and put out a whole collection of zines. “Every year from 2020 until now, I want to [make a zine] five years ahead. So in 2025, I am going to drop the 2020 book, then in 2026 the 2021 book, you know what I mean? I feel like five years is a good buffer period where it’s still interesting as a time capsule to think about how things work, but it’s still fresh enough to where the source material is semi-relevant.”
So far, “Dear Kelly” has garnered lots of support from new and previous Channel 5 fans, with rental numbers continuing to climb as “Dear Kelly” makes its way from screen to screen. “I think people connect with it a lot because a lot of people, especially in our generation, have at least one family member who has sort of gone the Kelly route,” Callaghan states. But “Dear Kelly” also shines a big, fat spotlight on the economical butterfly effect that poor mental health and unstable livelihoods have on the general American public, specifically when it comes to their political beliefs.
Despite the positive feedback Callaghan has received for his latest documentary, he has decided to ditch political reporting. Instead, he has decided to switch gears and invest his time in projects that preserve people’s ancestry and aim to protect their future livelihood.
To keep up with all the hottest Channel 5 updates, you can follow them on YouTube or subscribe to their Patreon. “Dear Kelly” is available for rent or purchase on the official “Dear Kelly” website, which can be found at https://www.dearkellyfilm.com/