Not even a ‘no comment’: Paul Farhi on the media’s historic struggles with relevance

Carlos Watson’s media startup arrives on the scene—and insiders reveal a dark reality under its glossy veneer.“The Unraveling of Ozy Media” is a special three-part series of The Kicker, on the trial of Carlos Watson and the excesses of the digital media age, presented by the Columbia Journalism Review.Hosted and coproduced by Josh Hersh and Susie BanikarimProduced and edited by Amanda Darrach

9 Joulu 202442min

Starting on December 9, the Columbia Journalism Review presents a special three-part series of The Kicker: “The Unraveling of Ozy Media,” on the dramatic rise and fall of Carlos Watson, the cofounder of the digital media company Ozy. In 2023, Watson was charged with fraud after it was revealed that one of his partners had masqueraded as a YouTube executive, during a call with potential investors. But Ozy’s failure is about more than one man. It’s a story about an era of profligate growt...

5 Joulu 20242min

Nearly half of all Latino voters put their support behind former president Donald Trump this week, according to exit polls—a 14 percent increase from 2020. Those results surprised many, but not Jack Herrera, who has been reporting on the shifting voting habits of Latino communities across the country for years. Herrera joins The Kicker to talk about what he’s learned from his journalism in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and the border counties of Texas. Read More: Herrera’s article for CJR’s Ele...

8 Marras 202428min

Martin Baron was the executive editor of the Washington Post from 2013 until his retirement, in 2021—which meant he was there for the arrival of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as owner and publisher of the paper. He’s long praised Bezos for taking a firm line against any interference with the paper’s journalism, but Bezos’s sudden decision, announced last week, to torpedo the paper’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris was a bridge too far. In a post on X, Baron described the move as an act of “c...

31 Loka 202424min

The so-called Big Lie—that the 2020 election was stolen out from under Donald Trump—was more than just a series of individual false facts and misleading videos. It was a narrative, carefully constructed by people affiliated with the Trump campaign, and disseminated through friendly news outlets and social media channels. Four years later, that story still convinces millions of Trump’s supporters. And as NBC’s Ryan Reilly has reported, it’s one that many people on the former president’s team a...

25 Loka 202433min

New York City is the media capital of the world, but the number of people and outlets covering the city locally has taken a hit recently. Over the past few years, the Wall Street Journal dropped its independent metro section, the New York Times announced it would stop endorsing local races, and the all-news radio station WCBS went off the air. But a number of scrappy upstarts have started filling the void. The City, a digital news nonprofit, has led some of the best coverage of the ongo...

9 Loka 202426min

In March, the digital literary magazine Guernica published a personal essay by a British Israeli writer and translator, about her experiences in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas terror attacks. It was raw and honest and painful to read. The writer, Joanna Chen, had spent years before the attacks and subsequent war on Gaza volunteering for an organization that transported Palestinian children into Israeli territory for medical care; after October 7, she found it hard to connect with the wo...

18 Syys 202439min

In late May, Kyle Clark went viral after he moderated a debate featuring six Republican candidates for Colorado’s Fourth Congressional District, including Rep. Lauren Boebert. He refused to allow the candidates to evade his direct questions with waffling, rambly answers, instead repeatedly cutting them off: “You didn’t make any attempt to answer the actual question,” he said at one point. Over the next few weeks, his management of the debate was hailed by everyone from the Poynter Institute t...

4 Syys 202428min