There are always voices in my head. This one was an interview with “Ben.” I figured some of you might like a transcript.
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Me: So, Ben it’s been a whirlwind few days for you. You just won that media output feigning outrage award. Let’s start there.
Ben: Any time your friends call you a MOFO… it’s a big day. Then, standing up at the podium… in the moment… there are so many people to thank. The person from the Washington Post who teed up the story for me — who I neither quoted, nor referred to. All the reporters who report on media and repost every media reporter who reposted this. “It takes a village,” that’s what the people say.
Me: People. It’s always about the people.
Ben: I couldn’t have said it better. It is about people. The people at the Washington Post were upset. Sure, the business is losing customers — lots. And, losing gobs of money. But they’re doing important work and it’s owned by a rich guy who can fund losses until bovines fly.
Me: Porcine.
Ben: Right. Cows. Things started on Sunday night when I got this text.
Ben: I was going to break the story that the first woman to run editorial at The Post was leaving. So, they sent a memo to staff to cut me off. That’s why I wrote story in the Times on Tuesday.
Me: Clash Over Phone Hacking Article Preceded Exit of Washington Post Editor
Ben: Yep. That one. Important stuff. People needed to know the backstory.
Me: What backstory?
Ben: Clearly, Sally Buzbee was disrespected and the new CEO, Will Lewis pushed her out. It’s all right there in my subhead, “Will Lewis, the chief executive of The Washington Post, objected to coverage of a legal development involving him in a phone hacking case.”
Me: Yeah, these quotes really make your point, “Mr. Lewis did not prevent the article from publishing.” And, “The interaction over the court ruling was not the primary reason for her resignation.” Was there even a story here? I mean, beyond the Post losing $77 million last year and half their subscribers since 2020?
Ben: The Washington Post along with the New York Times and a handful of other outlets are the stalwarts that protect the populous from propaganda.
Me: Did you read the recent comments from Marty Baron from the World Media Conference on May 28th?
Ben: Been busy writing.
Me: Marty ran editorial at The Post from 2013 until 2021 when Sally took over. He talked about the past, present, and future. It’s good stuff.
Ben: Marty’s the man. What did he have to say?
Me: “The institution of the press is fundamental to a democracy.”
Ben: My man.
Me: “We will actually help end up eroding and destroying the institution of the press if we don’t have institutional standards, if we don’t have standards of behaviour for ourselves, then what makes us different from anybody else? What makes us different from an activist? What makes us different from an advocate? They’re all respectable roles in society… But you’re journalists.”
Ben: If we don’t advocate, who will? I mean Will Lewis is bringing in his friends. They all worked for Rupert Murdoch outlets. That’s a bad sign.
Me: Marty had something to say about this, akin to: If we behave like the Democratic Party, they’ll call us the Democratic Party. And, we’ll stop being journalists. The institution of journalism won’t exist.
Ben: Yeah, well, he’s got his opinion.
Me: When does opinion become misinformation?
Ben: Oh, no. This is information. That phone hacking article preceded her exit.
Me: “Preceded” is doing a lot of lifting here. It might beat Lasha Talakhadze’s 267KG Olympic record for cleaning and jerking. Yeah, a phone hacking preceded her exit, but your details make it pretty clear that it had nothing to do with her leaving. You could have said, “Easter preceded her exit.” That would be equally true.
Ben: People like my story. It has (checks phone) 431 likes right now on X. That must mean something.
Me: It means it found an audience. Actually, it speaks to the story about misinformation on social media Nature published this week. The authors studied this. This is what they said, “Public intellectuals and journalists frequently make sweeping claims about the effects of exposure to false content online that are inconsistent with much of the current empirical evidence.” You’re the public intellectual and journalist.
Ben: I see the confusion. They’re talking about right wing activists. Fox. Or outlets that are even worse. They’re not talking about The New York Times. Not me.
Me: Are you sure? Because…
Ben: A few days ago, Wired published a section from the new book, The Death of Truth, by Steve Brill.
Me: I worked with Steve. Great story. “He was the worst boss I ever had and the most brilliant reporter I ever met. I learned more from him in two years than I did in my decades as a journalist and chief editor.” That’s how a friend described Steve Brill to me before I met the journalist, lawyer, teacher, entrepreneur, and duly egoed genius for the first time.
Ben: Yeah, him. He railed against sites that grab ad dollars for publishing – sorry, not publishing – putting COVID hoax junk on the internet… wah-wah-wah programmatic… wah-wah-wah The Trade Desk…
Me: Sorry, you cut out there toward the end. Good thing. Some ad tech folks reading this would have gone bonkers. They love clickbait.
Ben: Who doesn’t? The point is bad stuff gets propped up by ad dollars. Brill’s point is advertisers need to support real news. I’m real news. People need to read my story. So, the headline needs to hook that reader. That’s how even the good stories get told. Mary Poppins. Spoonful of sugar. That kind of thing.
Me: We’re right back to the word that kicked this off, “People.” People at the Post and the Times care about this story. And, maybe, in time, people outside those places will care about Sally Buzbee or worry about who’s at the Post’s editorial helm. Right now, few people seem to care. That leads to subscriber loss. That leads to revenue loss. That leads to losing money. That leads to leadership changes and job losses. Which lead to this terrific post on LinkedIn from Stephen Regenold, “Ouch. It's a drastic moment for WashPo. Action is needed if this newspaper of past glory is to regain its former stature ever again.”
Ben: My peeps still call me MOFO. So, I got that going for me. Which is nice.
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See… you’re lucky you’re not in my head more often.