Roca News: The NYC media company captured the real Lebanon

“Lebanese people are built different, that was my takeaway coming home. The stuff that would rattle Americans, that would really shake us up, and terrify us, ruin our years, to people over there it’s an inconvenience and then they live their life in the face of it”, admits Max Frost. “On the eve of this war breaking out, people were optimistic that things were going to improve”.

The Beiruter spoke with one of the three founders of the successful New York-based media company, Roca News, Max Frost. His partners and former college classmates are Max Towey and Billy Carney. Max began planning his trip to Lebanon in December, and in February 2026, in the days leading up to it, his friends in Lebanon told him: “Even if there’s a war it’s going to be fine. If you’re waiting for the right time to come it will never be the right time”.

Despite the concerns about conflict, the financial crisis, and displacement, people were hopeful. Max heard a lot about war and sectarianism before coming. What he encountered was people who were extremely warm and welcoming. That’s what surprised him most.

In his words, individuals in the West see things through their own lens, envisioning the Lebanese taking sides. The assumption in the States is that Christians support Israel and Shiites support Iran. “People all agree that they want a stronger state, a military that works, there was no divide. They’re tired of conflict, they just want peace and prosperity”, says Max.

News for a distrustful era

In August 2020, Roca was established because the news in America had become toxic due to partisanship. “You turn on one channel and see one thing, you turn on another and see something else”, says Max. On social media, it’s hard to get reliable information so they began covering news on Instagram and it caught on.

In January 2021, there was a fiasco where people on reddit were trading stocks, they covered it in their format, and it became their first viral post. Rapid growth followed, bringing Roca to 1.8 million followers. They expanded onto YouTube during the 2024 elections, gaining over 700,000 subscribers. Their newsletter has hundreds of thousands of readers and their app over a hundred thousand users. “We’re trying to become the most reliable source of news for young Americans, helping them understand what’s going on in the US and around the world without bias or fear like in this Lebanon trip”.

A noticeable pattern on Instagram is that global stories perform better in terms of reels. Three factors get people to engage: curiosity, virality, and importance. Global stories pique the American audience’s curiosity. “In the US, everyone knows someone who’s Lebanese and has stories about how Beirut used to be. Seeing Lebanon on their feed makes people stop scrolling. If you get your news from Roca, you should never be caught off guard when something happens. You’re in the know”.

The key is authenticity

Roca has cracked Gen Z attention spans on Instagram with its authenticity. They aim for real conversations and genuine people since their audience wants to know what’s really happening and understand different perspectives. “When you look at the people who really succeed in the media landscape in America today, it’s those who seem real. The American media has gone out of touch with its people, speaking in a way the average American doesn’t speak”, says Max.

Roca is a Portuguese word, one of the partners, Billy Carney, being Brazilian. Twice a year, a huge wave comes up the Amazon River, the Pororoca, and clears everything out of its path, smashes things up, and turns the water over, drawing people from around the world. “Our mission is to shake up the news industry and bring people together like the Pororoca in Brazil”, says Max.

In today’s hyper-polarized media landscape, even though it’s getting harder because of partisanship, true neutrality is still possible. “The news should be giving you facts so you can form your own opinions”, says Max. In media, he’s a gatekeeper, deciding what part of the story gets out.

Without bias or fear

“We don’t think we’re the one source of truth. We just ask: What are a handful of facts about a story that everyone can admit is true? That’s our starting point”. They are committed to it, and their audience holds them accountable. Roca’s slogan is to capture the world without bias or fear.

They have a team that identifies stories, videographers and writers who convert them into what people want to read. “We have a willingness to go to places that the traditional media doesn’t want to go. For instance, there are parts of America that would be considered punishment for someone from the New York Times to go to, like Ohio for a month”.

They’re from all over the country and the world, and they keep an open mind. “A lot of the big media outlets in America have an agenda they want to push. That’s why we can exist, because people know that and are tired of it”. Max asserts that it’s difficult for people in New York to set aside their own beliefs and hear individuals with different views, which constitutes most of the US and the world.

A different perspective

What stood out while they were in Beirut for over a week was the sense that people are trying to build something back, regardless of what the government is going to do about it. A reader of theirs, Ramzi Kahale, reached out and brought Max to the start-up scene. He is in the process of launching his own tech-focused media outlet in Beirut. “He gave me amazing perspectives”.

In New York City, everyone knows Kalshi, Ramp, or Karim, which were found by Lebanese entrepreneurs. “They’re such big stories of success that can be told. You must talk to enough people though, those who have a broad outlook to fulfill the narrative”.

Roca focuses on how ordinary people actually live, rather than reducing countries like Lebanon to conflict alone. “I don’t know when the last time was that I saw something in the news in America about Lebanon that wasn’t about airstrikes”.

Unaffected treasure

A quintessentially Lebanese experience was when they drove to Hasbaya. They stopped in a beautiful town that had different Christian shrines where a man led them to a monastery in the mountains. They drove down a dirt road and got stopped by French soldiers training Lebanese soldiers on how to disarm mines. After being let through, they reached the monastery which had a statue of Jesus getting baptized. They witnessed peace and beauty, whereas twenty miles to the South would have been a completely different picture.

“People would travel from far and wide to see this place, and we were there by ourselves soaking it in. It speaks to Lebanon’s beauty and everything the country still has to offer despite its struggles”. Max is optimistic that at some point, something will change.