Top News:
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Carlos Watson says Ozy Media is not shutting down after having “good conversations” with investors and advertisers and Friday's announcement was “premature” — - Ozy Media isn't shutting down, CEO and co-founder Carlos Watson told CNBC on Monday.
Discussion:
@brianstelter, Variety, Insider, @alexweprin, Axios, @craigsilverman, The Hollywood Reporter, TODAY.com, @jayrosen_nyu, @nycjim, @phkeane, @sherman4949, @alexweprin, @juddlegum, @danprimack, @sherman4949, @alexweprin, @alexyoung, @squawkcnbc, @tomgara, @goldietaylor, @cnbc, @sarafischer, @mccarthyryanj, @sarafischer, @brianstelter, Quartz, So, What's the Big News ?, Tourist Trapp, New York Times, @moorehn, @katie_robertson and New York Times
Discussion:
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: Getting phone calls from folks who are astonished by this Hail Mary pass (if that's what it is?) by Watson. Which employees are going to operate the new Ozy? Where's the evidence of consumer demand? And who's going to oversee it? The “board” is down to 2 people
Todd Spangler / Variety: Ozy Media Is Not Shutting Down After All, CEO Carlos Watson Says
Allana Akhtar / Insider: Ozy's CEO said the company isn't dead yet after its board of directors voted to shutter the scandal-ridden media startup
Alex Weprin / @alexweprin: Ozy Media is back!! https://twitter.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: I expect the vision for the rebirth of Ozy involves Carlos Watson hosting more Carlos Watson video shows and podcasts. Meanwhile, the Today show and CNBC let this guy come on and pump his own tires. He's not sorry and won't take responsibility. What a joke https://twitter.com/...
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter: Carlos Watson Says Ozy Media Won't Shut Down After All: “We Are Open for Business”
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: Founder of Ozy, Carlos Watson, now says he is going to keep the company going. No one has any idea what that means. https://twitter.com/...
Jim Roberts / @nycjim: Ozy CEO Carlos Watson says shutdown was “premature” and that the scandal-ridden media media company would reopen. “I very genuinely feel like we have a meaningful, transformational voice. At our best, this will be our Lazarus moment.” Um... https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Patrick Keane / @phkeane: I run a successful media company that @benyt has never heard of. https://twitter.com/...
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: “Just because something is sloppy or stupid doesn't make it illegal.” - Carlos Watson just now on @cnbc. ...Does that count impersonating a YouTube executive to investors?
Alex Weprin / @alexweprin: Carlos Watson says Ozy Media will stay open, comparing the company to the biblical figure Lazarus, who Jesus brought back to life a few days after his death: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ ...
Judd Legum / @juddlegum: Made a mistake by bootstrapping a media business focused on attracting an actual audience in making an impact. Should have focused on scamming venture capitalists and producing content no one read and I could have gotten featured on the Today Show! https://twitter.com/...
Dan Primack / @danprimack: Shorter Carlos Watson: “It's just a flesh wound.”
Alex Sherman / @sherman4949: “That's a good question,” - Carlos Watson on whether his team will stick with him on @CNBC now. So he seems to be resurrecting his company while having no idea who will work for him.
Alex Weprin / @alexweprin: There was some heavy spinning here. Watson said they bought traffic because they didn't want to leave things in the hands of the social media algorithms, and said that Goldman Sachs bought a big ad campaign on Ozy a few months after the YouTube impersonation incident
Aléx Young / @alexyoung: .@carloswatson is a scam artist and should be arrested for securities fraud. Anyone in digital media knows exactly what he is doing and how full of bullshit he is. https://twitter.com/...
Squawk Box / @squawkcnbc: “I hope and I believe that that was a one-off event. It's a tragic event. It's a horrific event. It's a wrong event. I hope and trust that was a one-off,” says @carloswatson on Ozy's COO Samir Rao impersonating a YouTube executive in a call with Goldman Sachs. https://twitter.com/...
Tom Gara / @tomgara: We're entering a new phase of this incredible story: Carlos Watson Goes Rogue https://twitter.com/...
@goldietaylor: TMFRHT. If you walked in a Black barbershop and asked, “What's up with Carlos Watson?” The answer would be: “Carlos who?” He was selling relevance he never had. https://twitter.com/...
@cnbc: “We were premature.” Ozy CEO Carlos Watson says that his media company will reopen, after informing employees Friday that the board had voted to shut down the company. https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: Watson is defending the Sharon Osborne “investor” comments on @SquawkCNBC right now. He says Ron Conway only put in $50k dollars, so him relinquishing shares not a “subsequent, big” thing. https://twitter.com/...
Ryan McCarthy / @mccarthyryanj: Carlos Watson just said on CNBC that BuzzFeed offered $250 million for Ozy in 2019.
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: Staffers that were employees as of Friday confirm to @axios that this is the first time they're hearing of any plans to bring Ozy back. They don't have access to Ozy email anymore. https://twitter.com/...
Brian Stelter / @brianstelter: Here's the full @CarlosWatson interview from “Today.” He says calling Ozy a “house of cards” is “slanderous.” He's spinning this moment as a growth opportunity: “If people now know the name Ozy, I hope they'll sign up for our newsletters...” https://twitter.com/...
Tripti Lahiri / Quartz: Hedge fund investor Marc Lasry's tough week just got a lot worse
Shailendra Singh Bisht / So, What's the Big News ?: Fake it Till You Make it? — Welcome to RPML, a newsletter about the Running Platform Marketing Life.
Sarah Kessler / New York Times: Balancing Honesty and Optimism in Silicon Valley
Spooky N. Gore / @moorehn: Also: Sophisticated investors are lied to and manipulated constantly. It's not unusual for grifters — large and small — to lie to them. I wrote a bit about those dynamics a few years back: https://www.cnbc.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Katie Robertson / @katie_robertson: Five days after @benyt's column on Ozy Media, the company is shutting down, its board says https://www.nytimes.com/...
RELATED:
Ben Smith / New York Times:
How the charm of Ozy's chief, Carlos Watson, helped persuade investors into putting millions toward a media dream before conducting sufficient due diligence — The story behind the story is about the elite investors who plowed millions into a media dream without much due diligence, persuaded by the charm of Ozy's head, Carlos Watson.
Discussion:
@craigsilverman, @benyt, @benyt, @talkopan, @ketanj0, @lyssaslounge, @rameeztase, Boing Boing, @jamesrbuk, @nkulw, @sarafischer, @benyt, @jduffyrice, @vivian, @davepell, @escarry, @aymanm, @reckless, @amlwhere, @jeremymbarr, @craigsilverman, @benyt, @craigsilverman, Media Voices, @jdesmondharris, @craigsilverman, @sharonwaxman, @geedee215, @jeremymbarr, @sonnybunch, @jswatz, @jodyavirgan, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @donlday, @chrisecrowley, @craigsilverman, @rolandsmartin, @justinjm1, @gentlemanstimes, @jessicalessin, @lpolgreen, @akbarth3great, @mattwelch, @craigsilverman, @craigsilverman, @ccadelago, @craigsilverman, @annehelen, @jswatz, @bendwalsh, @craigsilverman, @daveweigel, @felixsalmon, @oliverdarcy, @danilic, NPR, @charukasturi, @charukasturi, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman, @sharonwaxman, @clarajeffery, @rafat, @sharonwaxman, @jayrosen_nyu and @katie_robertson
Discussion:
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: I worry that other people of color building media businesses are going to face even more scrutiny and skepticism because of Ozy's deceptions. And after years of covering ad fraud, I'm incensed that big brands still can't or won't take control of their digital spending.
Ben Smith / @benyt: I also spoke to Carlos Watson, who concedes nothing, and argues that paid/preroll views are superior to people who choose to watch your content: “We did not want to simply be subject to the vagaries of the algorithms...” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: There is a core point here that many advertisers want totally safe content that also brings in a passionate, diverse young audience and would literally prefer to buy fake content than sponsor anything interesting or risky. https://twitter.com/...
Tal Kopan / @talkopan: Imagine if all the gobs of money that went into this apparent house of cards could have bolstered an established local news industry that's been undercut by ... stuff like this https://twitter.com/...
Ketan Joshi / @ketanj0: As @mollytaft pointed out a few days ago, this story of a slowly self-reinforcing bubble of fakery and fraud rings some extremely similar bells for the markets for dodgy offsets in the climate world. Except in the climate case, the crash is very real and physical and terrible. https://twitter.com/...
Katharina Borchert / @lyssaslounge: If you've been following the crazy #OzyMedia story, this is an excellent thread about early warning signs and how big companies ignored them. https://twitter.com/...
Rameez / @rameeztase: i've never understood the “they buy audience” criticism. This is quite literally just called advertising. The fact that it didn't work is a strategic failure, not a moral one. There were plenty of those in this situation, to be clear. https://twitter.com/...
Rob Beschizza / Boing Boing: Ozy Media soap opera ends in its demise
James Ball / @jamesrbuk: “The whole Ozy episode seemed to confirm the widely held suspicion that venture capital and advertising may be the world's least rigorous industries” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Noah Kulwin / @nkulw: Hahaha https://twitter.com/...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: Flagging again that ~75 people worked at Ozy. I've been on the phone w lots of them. They're reading all of the stories & tweets. This is very hard for them. A lot of them did great work. It's unfair to say Ozy was a “sham.” The correct framing is that it was woefully mismanaged. https://twitter.com/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: Here are some slides from a deck, from this summer when Ozy was trying to raise money at a $450 million valuation https://twitter.com/...
Josie Duffy Rice / @jduffyrice: i'm glad to see other black media heads interviewed in this article, including the inimitable @laurenwilliams. but i wish it covered what this means for media going forward. it's near impossible to build a thriving media outlet, and it'll only get harder. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Vivian Schiller / @vivian: Ozy's promise was “diversity without the conflict.” Is such thing even possible? @benyt https://www.nytimes.com/...
Dave Pell / @davepell: If you're a sexual harasser, the last words you want to hear are: Roman Farrow is on the phone. If you're a phony media company, the last words you want to hear are: Ben Smith is on the phone. https://twitter.com/...
Eddie Scarry / @escarry: ," wrote Ben Smith, the former editor in chief of BuzzFeed. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Ayman / @aymanm: This is perhaps my favorite story of the week. And likely we have the perfect guest to talk about it... @benyt joins me to discuss his bombshell reporting and how that literally led to Ozy Media shutting down. https://twitter.com/...
Nilay Patel / @reckless: This is so funny - Tesla famously spends $0 on marketing and does not even have a comms person https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Ann Marie Lipinski / @amlwhere: Two key reasons Ozy can happen again: 1. Investors who perform little analysis and “rely on gut instinct and herd-like validation from their peers” 2. Advertisers “who are ever in search of news without, well, news” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr: A great thread from someone who was very early on this story https://twitter.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: Definitions: PAID media is advertising. Spend money to get an audience. In today's world that could be display ads, FB ads ppl click on, YouTube ads for your video. EARNED media is when people choose to watch/read/listen to your content or the media chooses to cover you.
Ben Smith / @benyt: @sarafischer The content they produced was real, but the audience wasn't, and the the lies to advertisers, investors, to Axios — that's not mismanagement, it's just deception. I think they were doing what they intended to do? Horrible for the staff, who worked hard and didn't deserve it.
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: Also, brands do completely bonkers shit with their money. In 2017 I gave JPMorgan a LOT of data and details to show how its sponson on Ozy was getting junk paid traffic. Yet here we are four years later and JPMorgan was still spending with Ozy. https://twitter.com/...
Esther Kezia Thorpe / Media Voices: The Information Reporter Kaya Yurieff on covering the sprawling creator economy
@jdesmondharris: “[S]ome advertisers and venture capitalists are much more comfortable attaching themselves to media with lower stakes that is attached to lofty ideas, but not news that's going to move the needle or challenge the status quo,” said Lauren Williams https://www.nytimes.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: Let's move on. What has Ozy done since? It continued to pay for audience in a variety of formats. This pattern suggests Ozy's strategy of covering “the new and the next” wasn't building the kind of audience it was promising investors and advertisers.
Sharon Waxman / @sharonwaxman: “The classic demographic for Ozy was a retired female white teacher who used Ozy to stay young and stay woke and loved learning about the world from it,” the former employee said. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Vaxton P. Hartnabrig / @geedee215: This dude talks in press release copy — why didn't that automatically trip any alarm bells for Ozy's rich investors? Everything that he's saying, even now, lands as affable dissembling. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr: “A strange feature of Ozy Media was that the content was all real, its journalism was real (albeit light) and the ad revenue appears to have been real, too. Nobody loves this stuff more than advertisers, who are ever in search of news without, well, news.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Sonny Bunch / @sonnybunch: Some personal news: I've been promoted to “Twitter wag.” https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Jody Avirgan / @jodyavirgan: I was turned off by Ozy from the moment I first heard about it, not because I sniffed a scam but because of this — it just seemed so aggressively safe. https://twitter.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: But in this case Ozy was sourcing traffic from multiple extremely dubious sources, and the brands didn't know. It later told the brands that this traffic/content wasn't part of their deal. OK!
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: So: it paid to place sponsored Ozy content in the LA Times and then quoted its own sponcon to create the impression it was getting good press. This thread has so many more examples like this https://twitter.com/...
@donlday: Gosh why am I working so hard to get people to read our content when apparently just paying for eyeballs is superior. 🙄 https://twitter.com/...
Chris Crowley / @chrisecrowley: thinking about how Ozy investor Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective pulled funding for California Sunday Magazine, leading to its shut down last year... there was also the matter of the Atlantic laying off 20 percent of its staff... https://www.nytimes.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: Brands paid millions to sponsor content on Ozy. This reveals a lot about advertisers imho, and their inability to to accurately judge real from fake in the digital media ecosystem. Or their propensity to simply not care about the difference... https://www.axios.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@rolandsmartin: Doubling down on a damn lie. Advertisers gave millions to @ozy and their fraudulent numbers and totally ignore those of who have grown our business organically by not buying a penny of marketing. THAT is real audience growth https://twitter.com/...
Justin Miller / @justinjm1: The big legal question is whether Ozy's prolific deceit was used to hook investors who were subsequently harmed with the company going bust. If so, it's fraud. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Chris Chafin / @gentlemanstimes: everyone loves the ozy story because they're just **slightly** over the line that every other media company dances on every day https://www.nytimes.com/...
Jessica Lessin / @jessicalessin: Has not a more true phrase been uttered... “The whole Ozy episode seemed to confirm the widely held suspicion that venture capital and advertising may be the world's least rigorous industries.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Lydia Polgreen / @lpolgreen: I have spent a lot of time in the past week thinking about all the Black and brown owned media companies Ozy leapfrogged. https://twitter.com/...
Matt Welch / @mattwelch: The implications & patterns of this story present all kinds of avenues for consideration & exploration. https://twitter.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: Ozy's strategy has been to buy audience, influence and the trappings of success. It appears to have worked until money from investors started to dry up. Ozy's problem is that all its paid media never turned into earned media aka real audience success. So they had to keep buying.
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: Backgorund: In 2017 I revealed Ozy bought a bunch of junk web traffic and had sent it to sponsored content pages on its website. They PAID for an audience to view this stuff. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...
Christopher Cadelago / @ccadelago: Carlos Watson, zooming with Ben Smith on Sunday to defend Ozy after its implosion, was joined by a new public relations adviser, the former Clinton aide Phil Singer. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: BUT in spite of all these obvious signs that the company was not connecting with an audience, Brands continued to spend money with Ozy. The one thing Ozy was good at was at selling itself and a vision. From the NYT tonight: https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Anne Helen Petersen / @annehelen: everyone should name their newsletter that does valuable reporting something that sounds amazing when mentioned in a serious NYT article https://twitter.com/...
John Schwartz / @jswatz: “I look at the demands they made on me — my metrics, numbers,” he said of the advertising agencies. “Now I'm sitting there going, 'Y'all made me jump through all these hoops? It was that easy just to lie and make up this stuff?'” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Ben Walsh / @bendwalsh: if true, this is yet more gross mismanagement by Carlos Watson! https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: This matters because the money invested in Ozy and spent on campaigns with it could have been deployed elsewhere. It could have helped support mission-driven media that does the hard work of connecting with and serving a *real* audience.
Dave Weigel / @daveweigel: “After our conversation on Sunday, in which [Carlos Watson] was joined by a new public relations adviser, the former Clinton aide Phil Singer...” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Felix Salmon / @felixsalmon: “The low-conflict, low-news journalism that Ozy offered appears to have been a hard sell to readers and viewers. Ozy's content, however, was catnip to #brand managers in the consumer packaged goods market.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy: “I am sympathetic to people like Mr. Watson and Ms. Holmes — strivers whose dreams apparently led them into deception,” @benyt writes. “If you've ever worked for and loved a new institution, you can imagine how hard it would be to let it fail.” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Dan Ilic / @danilic: Wow. @benyt 's piece last week on @Ozy shut them down. Hey Ben, can you do a pice on @Australian next? thanks mate! https://www.nytimes.com/...
David Folkenflik / NPR: Ozy shuts down after accusations of deceit, as high-profile backers peel away
Charu Kasturi / @charukasturi: We were blindsided by @benyt's original NYT article last Sunday. The Board told Ben they were proud of how “Carlos' team” handled the Samir Rao/YouTube impersonation scandal. But “Carlos' team” — not even senior managers — knew of any of what had happened until the news broke.
Charu Kasturi / @charukasturi: So this is how it ended — OZY, an idea/company many of us journalists have given our heart and soul to, our lives to, shut down without giving us a chance to save our contacts and work, without a chance to say goodbyes to everyone we've been in the trenches with. (THREAD) 👇
Sharon Waxman / @sharonwaxman: In a defiant interview with TheWrap shortly after the publication of the expose, Watson said he was the target of a “a bulls— ad hominem attack” in the New York Times because “Ozy's rising.”
Sharon Waxman / @sharonwaxman: That was Monday. On Friday his demeanor was different: “Carlos was upset,” said one person who was present at the Friday meeting, in an interview with TheWrap. “He seemed beaten down by all of it. He seemed distracted.”
Sharon Waxman / @sharonwaxman: “I know this isn't anything that any of us wanted,” Watson said, according to those present. “I'm very sorry to say that the board has voted, given everything that's happened, to suspend operations and to close Ozy as of today.”
Sharon Waxman / @sharonwaxman: It was a stunningly sudden end to a media company that only Sunday Watson told TheWrap had made $50 million in revenue in 2020 and turned a profit. A company that he claimed had been offered $250 million to be acquired by Buzzfeed in 2019.
Clara Jeffery / @clarajeffery: Now THIS is a kicker https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@rafat: To blame VC money or that the digital media model is broken are wrong conclusions to draw out of Ozy debacle. Fraud is always the wrong model, irrespective.
Sharon Waxman / @sharonwaxman: Exclusive: “People on the call said Watson's crying appeared ‘fake’ and ‘theatrical,’ an individual with knowledge of the meeting told TheWrap.” A must-read on the 5-day-collapse of @OzyMedia by @antoinettesiu: https://www.thewrap.com/...
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: “When the end came, it came swiftly, five days after The New York Times published an article that raised questions about the company and its leadership team.” https://www.nytimes.com/... The board — which failed in its oversight duties — said today, “we are closing Ozy's doors.”
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman:
[Thread] A look at why Ozy failed as a paid media company and has become a perfect, cautionary illustration of paid versus earned media — The Ozy Media meltdown has a lot of lessons. As the reporter who caught them buying junk traffic in 2017, I'm biased. But I see it as a perfect, cautionary illustration of Paid versus Earned media. So: a 🧵 on why Ozy failed as a paid media company — and why it matters.
Discussion:
New York Times, Mediaite, @espiers, @millie, @jayrosen_nyu, @craigsilverman, @pomeranian99 and @om
Discussion:
Aidan McLaughlin / Mediaite: Carlos Watson Tells TODAY Show Ozy is BACK: ‘This is Our Lazarus Moment’
Elizabeth Spiers / @espiers: It's not just this (though it is this). There are a lot of brands who need to check a box with media buys for a specific demo and don't actually care about performance. Someone just needs to tell their CMO that they have a buy that covers a target audience https://twitter.com/...
Millie Tran / @millie: This is a great thread not just about paid vs. earned media but also about the dubious online advertising and native content biz and the realities of running a media company. Some ppl like to make this stuff seem inaccessible but it's not. The more we demystify it, the better. https://twitter.com/...
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: Ozy Media's founder Monday: “We are strong and undeterred.” Four days later the company closed its doors. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: It was vicious cycle Ozy could not pull out of. My view: Ozy simply refused to change its vision and strategy to produce something people actually wanted in large enough numbers to build an audience. Interestingly, however, Ozy did manage to pull in millions from... paid content.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Sources: Ozy inflated its numbers by buying most of its social media following and viewership for some shows, then used the numbers in pitches to TV networks — The downfall of Ozy Media and its charismatic founder Carlos Watson will go down as one of the most sudden media collapses of all time.
Discussion:
The Daily Beast, @sarafischer, @craigsilverman, @ziadramley, @dabeard, @saramorrison, @martinsfp, @emilybell, @axios, @axios, @axios, @axios, @axios, @jayrosen_nyu, @sarafischer, @byronyork, @nancyromm, CNBC, @aaschapiro, @megan and @bgrueskin
Discussion:
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: Re: OZY — One source told Axios that more than 95% of viewership for “The Carlos Watson Show” was paid —2 sources said execs included social media interactions in overall reach metrics —Email list was massive, but many emails obtained via dubious practices https://www.axios.com/...
Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman: Axios reported that it paid for its social media following, and used these follower counts to try and impress investors and others. https://www.axios.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Ziad Ramley / @ziadramley: Ben has started an avalanche of reporting on Ozy and his latest story is just as shocking as the first https://twitter.com/...
Sara Morrison / @saramorrison: I hope people don't think that Ozy is the only outlet that does this to writers. Many legitimate ones do, too! You send them 25 pitches and you never hear from them again. https://twitter.com/...
Martin Sfp Bryant / @martinsfp: “One source said that more than 95% of viewership for ‘The Carlos Watson Show’ was paid.” “Two sources said the company would often include social media interactions in its overall reach metrics.” 😳 https://www.axios.com/...
Emily Bell / @emilybell: OZY - the exact opposite of standing up to scrutiny. @benyt peeled back the lid of the can.....worms everywhere. It does make one think though that if internal knowledge of all these practices were so prevalent, why it took so long https://twitter.com/...
@axios: Some employees knew these things were happening and protested. Many assumed it was happening but were not directly involved so they didn't speak up. https://www.axios.com/...
@axios: Ozy Media was built on years of lies that together created a false narrative about its business, financials and culture, according to documents obtained by Axios, and dozens of conversations with former employees, investors, business partners and advisers. https://www.axios.com/...
@axios: As of Friday evening, only two people remained on Ozy's Board: CEO Carlos Watson and Michael Moe, a venture capitalist. https://www.axios.com/...
@axios: 🧵: The story of Ozy became so viral so fast because it highlighted the worst parts of every industry in America: naive investors, digital media outlets faking their numbers and over-zealous startup founders toeing the line between dishonesty and delusion. https://www.axios.com/...
@axios: • One source said that more than 95% of viewership for “The Carlos Watson Show” was paid • Another said the company bought most of its social media following • Two sources said execs included social media interactions in overall reach metrics https://www.axios.com/...
Jay Rosen / @jayrosen_nyu: “Ozy Media was built on years of lies that together created a woefully false narrative about its business, financials and culture...” https://www.axios.com/... It's hard to overstate how little was there.
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: NEW: The revenue figures Carlos Watson shared with Axios in Jan 2021 align with what he told investors, recruits, board members and third-party vendors. Given all of the deception around the company's numbers (details below) everything is being questioned. https://www.axios.com/...
Byron York / @byronyork: House of cards. It took five days from @benyt piece to the total collapse of Ozy Media. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Nancy Rommelmann / @nancyromm: And the denouement (for now!), Ozy announcing they're out. Great work by @benyt. Also, are we laying bets on how long before Carlos Watson starts his new venture? https://www.nytimes.com/...
Avi Asher-Schapiro / @aaschapiro: Would be interesting to learn more about what happened with the deals Carlos Watson worked on while he was global head of education investment banking at Goldman Sachs.
David Folkenflik / NPR:
Ozy CEO Carlos Watson resigns as a corporate director of NPR, just before the board's governance committee meeting to weigh his future with NPR
Discussion:
Mediaite, TVNewser, RAIN News, Columbia Journalism Review, @hunterw, @heynottheface, Look What You Made Me Do, @jeremymbarr, @coopintn, @balakrishnanr, @johnqbarrett, @jrosenbaum, @nmcalone, @bybrianbyrne, @aprjoy, @stphnfwlr, @benyt, @brandyljensen, @saraashleyo, @gingergibson, @hunterw, @hunterw, @williamturton, @hunterw, @lwoodhouse, @lwoodhouse, @ckrewson, @ddayen, @genepark, @mikeisaac, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, @davidfolkenflik, New York Times, The Verge, Current, The Wrap and New York Times
Discussion:
Ken Meyer / Mediaite: ‘I Was Shocked by How Fast It Happened’: NY Times' Ben Smith Reacts to Ozy Media's Collapse Days After His Exposé
A.J. Katz / TVNewser: Carlos Watson Goes on Today Show, Squawk Box, And Claims Ozy Media Is Now ‘Open for Business’
Jon Allsop / Columbia Journalism Review: The colossal wreck of Ozy
Hunter Walker / @hunterw: I know a lot of folks are enjoying the coverage of Ozy's demise but it's important to remember that these dysfunctional media companies can really hurt well meaning employees.
John S. Nash / @heynottheface: “This was a company that didn't have an audience & boasted of a massive audience & valuing itself at hundreds of millions of dollars. These pop up in all sorts of industries. It does expose how little attention so-called sophisticated investors often pay” https://mediaite.com/a/jxzed
Eugene S. Robinson / Look What You Made Me Do: OZY Rules: The House Negro Gets It in the End
Jeremy Barr / @jeremymbarr: Credit to Ben Smith, who mixes media commentary and humor by saying on Reliable Sources that Ozy Media “had a real problem building a kind of non-billionaire audience.” https://www.mediaite.com/...
Kristina Gordon / @coopintn: I knew Ozy was bad news from the beginning when they did an interview with me about forgiveness after infidelity and then slapped a headline on it that read: How to Cheat and Get Away With It. https://twitter.com/...
R. Balakrishnan / @balakrishnanr: Catch up on something fun. A nice structured story ... Ozy Media Ozy Built a TV Show on a False Claim, Says Its Former Producer https://www.nytimes.com/...
John Q. Barrett / @johnqbarrett: Great reporting. Ponzi & Madoff come to mind. Who are — were — Ozy Media's lawyers? Have they withdrawn representations that they must have transmitted, and maybe made themselves, to media companies, lenders, prospective investors, etc.? @benyt @carloswatson @BradBessey https://twitter.com/...
Jason Rosenbaum / @jrosenbaum: This is such a weird story. I watch a lot of popular channels on YouTube (mainly non political things about music, the NBA and professional wrestling) and I've never heard of Ozy until this week. https://twitter.com/...
Nathan McAlone / @nmcalone: “In 2017 and 2018, Watson cited the number of people who might have been in Central Park on the days of the festivals, regardless of whether or not they attended, the former employee said.”: https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Brian Patrick Byrne / @bybrianbyrne: A lesson in why engagement, and not follower count, is what matters: https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
April Joyner / @aprjoy: @GeeDee215 It did. I had a brief stint in Mountain View as a freelancer. Wouldn't have thought I'd be co-bylining this years later https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
Stephen Fowler / @stphnfwlr: This Ozy story just keeps getting wilder and wilder!!! As someone who is both a millennial and incredibly online, it's still so puzzling to me that I've never heard of the supposed millennial-focused online outlet... https://www.npr.org/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: Ozy's board announces it is “closing Ozy's doors”
Brandy Jensen / @brandyljensen: i think most of those employees are pretty okay with everyone dunking on the bosses who exploited them https://twitter.com/...
Sara Ashley O'Brien / @saraashleyo: this. read @kerrymflynn's Ozy work culture story: https://www.cnn.com/... a lot of ppl end up being collateral damage, for lack of a better word. they buy into a charismatic leader w/ a lofty mission and don't want to let them down — even at the risk of their own health https://twitter.com/...
Ginger Gibson / @gingergibson: Ozy recruited good journalists, some who aren't in journalism anymore because of them. https://twitter.com/...
Hunter Walker / @hunterw: .@benyt's second story gets to this a bit. Big money investors and the execs who bilk them aren't at the same level of risk of employees who waste time and energy at dysfunctional outlets. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Hunter Walker / @hunterw: I have dealt with exploitative and grifty places at least three times in my life. It wasn't as ridiculous or absurd as Ozy necessarily but it makes me cognizant people are really affected by this.
William Turton / @williamturton: @hunterw Speaking as someone who has worked at a couple dysfunctional media companies, I have no issue enjoying the demise of the charlatans
Hunter Walker / @hunterw: @WilliamTurton It's the demise of more than that though William. It's not something to enjoy.
Leighton Woodhouse / @lwoodhouse: This guy is truly the Elizabeth Holmes of media.
Leighton Woodhouse / @lwoodhouse: LOL Carlos Watson was on NPR's board? https://www.npr.org/...
Chris Krewson / @ckrewson: Yeah. https://www.npr.org/... https://twitter.com/...
David Dayen / @ddayen: Statement from NPR Board chair LaFontaine Oliver: “Earlier today, [OZY CEO] Carlos Watson submitted his resignation from the NPR Board of Directors. I have accepted his resignation on behalf of the Board. Mr. Watson's resignation is effective as of today.”
Gene Park / @genepark: media executives not savvy or smart enough to recognize very-obvious grifters explains everything about everything imo https://twitter.com/...
Rat King / @mikeisaac: watson has somehow been involved in every major media entity for years without anyone going “huh wha?” and it is extremely funny to watch everyone hit eject at the same time https://twitter.com/...
David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik: Starting with NYT's story Sunday night, Watson and his media company, Ozy, have been accused of misleading the public, advertisers & investors about the performance of the buzz-hungry digital outlet. Watson called NYT story a hit job. Each day has brought new allegations.
David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik: NEWS: Ozy CEO & co-founder Carlos Watson has resigned from NPR's board of directors after a week of scandal. His resignation, in a letter to NPR's board chairman, arrived shortly before NPR's governance committee was set to meet to determine his status. https://www.npr.org/...
David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik: “I've always interpreted it as, ‘Think big but be humble’,” Watson once told NPR, alluding to the poem that inspired Ozy's name. “Our ambition is to help people see more and be more, introduce them to the new and the next, but make sure... they're a little bit humble about it.”
David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik: Before joining the NPR board in 2016, Watson had a nearly year-long collaboration with NPR, including a weekly appearance on Weekend All Things Considered and cross-posting of Ozy articles. https://www.npr.org/...
Katie Robertson / New York Times: Carlos Watson, the chief of Ozy Media, resigns from NPR's board.
Tyler Falk / Current: Carlos Watson resigns from NPR board
Brian Welk / The Wrap: Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson Resigns From NPR Board
Axios:
Axel Springer says it gave up its Ozy board seat after investing $300K in its Series C in 2019, but Ozy listed Axel's rep as a director in a July 2021 filing
Discussion:
Jemima McEvoy / Forbes: Ozy Media CEO Says Company No Longer Shutting Down: ‘This Is Our Lazarus Moment’
Jeff Wise / @manvbrain: Well, @ozy is done. What's remarkable isn't just how long Carlos Watson's brazen shenangians went on for, but how much suffering he wreaked on the journalists who tried to worked hard to turn his flawed vision into reality. I talked to former staffers: https://nymag.com/...
@anjalikumar: This whole Ozy thing is comical insanity. I feel like a lot of the problems there happen at other places too and somehow go unscrutinized...I wonder why. Serious question. https://nymag.com/...
Brian McCullough / @brianmcc: No one needs to hear this from me, but for 4 years I have never, never once, linked to an Ozy story. And all I do every day is parse the zeitgeist! Which... you know... Means something... https://nymag.com/...
Francine McKenna / @retheauditors: @danprimack “They believed in its... potential for wealth creation.” That's not a reason for a journalist to join a news organization. Maybe they should have done more due diligence. https://twitter.com/...
Michael Eaves / @michaeleaves: Admittedly, I've been late to this story and the mere fact that #Ozy even existed, but this whole thing is CRAZY! Like.. how, Sway?? https://nymag.com/...
Adam Taylor / @mradamtaylor: “The reason those stories weren't reported by the big outfits is that they weren't that significant ... You have to be a real social-justice trooper to read article after article about, you know, the fight for women's rights in some province in Nigeria.” 😕 https://nymag.com/...
Ben Smith / @benyt: Ozy chairman Marc Lasry just resigned: “I believe that going forward Ozy requires experience in areas like crisis management and investigations, where I do not have particular expertise.”
David Folkenflik / @davidfolkenflik: Last night I asked- who's on the Ozy board? We still don't know. Axios's @sarafischer did some more sleuthing this AM... finding others are not https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@nick4iezos: This is a fairly interesting piece in that it's one of just a few to go deep into all the hard, good work the team put in while facing extreme obstacles and conditions every single day https://nymag.com/...
Errol Louis / @errollouis: “Even as Watson was running around telling advertisers and investors that Ozy had tens of millions of readers, staffers knew the truth.” https://nymag.com/... via @intelligencer
Justin Miller / @justinjm1: When @Eugene_Robinson was late to work once, Carlos Watson docked from his pay $5,000 https://nymag.com/...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: NEW w @danprimack: — Axel Springer, an early Ozy investor, tells Axios that it gave up voting rights/board seat after only investing $300k in Series C, but Ozy continued to list Axel's rep as an active director in a July 2021 filing w the state of Florida https://www.axios.com/...
Sara Fischer / @sarafischer: 1/2 NEW, OZY: Axel Springer says person who was attending board mtgs in observing capacity for Axel was Jens Müffelmann, but “In light of current developments and accusations against Ozy, he has decided and informed the CEO of Ozy yesterday that he steps down from this function”
@nick4iezos: OZY cut 20% of its staff early in the pandemic, all good friends and colleagues of mine, as @axios reports: https://www.axios.com/... Which makes them securing this $3.75m PPP loan for “payroll” even more insulting. https://twitter.com/...
Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube TV and NBCUniversal renew their carriage deal; YouTube TV's price will remain the same and Peacock Premium will not be bundled with the service — YouTube TV said the price of the internet-television package will remain the same. In reaching the carriage renewal …
Discussion:
@youtubetv, Light Reading, @lukebk, @xpangler, @variety, Ars Technica, MediaPost, Droid Life, The Verge and Deadline
Discussion:
YouTube TV / @youtubetv: We're thrilled to share that we have now reached an agreement with NBCUniversal. You'll continue to have access to 85+ channels, including all NBCU channels, their Regional Sports Networks, and your local NBC station, with no change to our current monthly price.
Jeff Baumgartner / Light Reading: NBCU, YouTube TV strike new deal
Todd Spangler / @xpangler: NBCU and YouTube Clinch New Agreement, No Price Increase for TV Streaming Service https://variety.com/... via @variety
@variety: YouTube TV customers will continue to get NBCUniversal's suite of cable channels and local NBC stations after Google and NBCU announced an official agreement Saturday https://variety.com/...
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica: YouTube TV and NBC avoid blackout for now but are still at odds in negotiations
RELATED:
Angela Watercutter / Wired:
The dustup between YouTube TV and NBCUniversal serves as a harbinger that bundling and contract disputes for streaming could be similar to cable TV disputes
Discussion:
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable: YouTube TV and NBCU Are Finalizing a New Carriage Deal, Channels to Remain on Service
@wiredculture: Streaming was supposed to help people cut the cord, but it mostly just replaced it. https://www.wired.com/...
@wired: If you're a YouTube TV user and like Sunday Night Football, chances are you've spent the past few days wondering whether you'll be able to stream this weekend's game. https://www.wired.com/...
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable: OFFICIAL: YouTube TV and NBCU Agree to New Deal, Channels to Remain With No Change in Monthly Price
David Poland / @davidpoland: Uhhhh... yeah. Welcome to reality. And Hulu was a completely different concept than any streamer currently out there. It was also a money saver for studios, taking money out of talent's pockets. https://www.wired.com/... via @wired
Jennifer Ouellette / @jenlucpiquant: The YouTube TV, NBCUniversal Debacle Feels Like a Harbinger. Streaming was supposed to help people cut the cord, but it mostly just replaced it. https://www.wired.com/...
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable: YouTube TV and NBCU Temporary Extension Only Lasts Until Tonight (October 1st)
Meg James / Los Angeles Times: YouTube TV, NBCUniversal reach new carriage deal, keeping NBC, MSNBC, Bravo on the air
J. Clara Chan / Hollywood Reporter: NBCUniversal, YouTube TV Inking Carriage Deal to Avoid Dropped Channels
Clark Merrefield / Nieman Lab:
Studies show the enduring influence of local TV news, still among the most trusted ways US residents get news, and examine tech's impact and Sinclair's growth — There is no shortage of surveys indicating many Americans don't trust the news media. The U.S. registers the lowest levels …
Discussion:
Jason Alcorn / @jasonalcorn: This new fact sheet on local nonprofit news from @INN is invaluable:"Nearly one launch per month for each of the past three years." https://inn.org/...
Bob Monek / @newyorkcommuter: Interesting insights into local news. I am especially concerned about political propaganda influencing news coverage as we have seen at the national level. Sinclair seems to have paid a price for setting that sort of agenda. https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Carey Higgins-Dobney, Ph.D. / @directorcarey: Much to my surprise, my research is one of the 5 recent studies on local TV news featured in NiemanLab this week! https://www.niemanlab.org/... via @NiemanLab
@niemanfdn: Research explores how local TV news affects public perceptions of pandemic protocols, the rise of national coverage on local TV news, and changes in how local TV journalists do their jobs: https://www.niemanlab.org/...
@spj_tweets: “The local sector of nonprofit news is growing rapidly, with an average of nearly 1 launch per month for each of the past 3 years. The number of local organizations has nearly doubled since 2016, and the newcomers often operate on much smaller budgets...” https://inn.org/...
@niemanlab: Sinclair “embraces the ‘cable newsification’ of local news, where local news comes to look more like the partisan outlets on cable.” https://www.niemanlab.org/...
Chris Welch / The Verge:
YouTube says YouTube Music users in Canada can access background streaming for free starting November 3, the first time non-Premium users can access the feature — YouTube Music is lifting one of its most annoying limitations — but only in Canada. Today, YouTube announced that beginning November 3rd …
Dan Froomkin / Press Watch:
NYT's Congressional coverage once again overhyped conflict among Democrats and reached subjective, unsupported conclusions — Sometimes, the political reporters at the New York Times really tip their hands. — Today is such a day. — The House Democratic leadership on Thursday blew …
Discussion:
Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker: The Democratic Civil War Has a Winner: Donald Trump
Josh Marshall / @joshtpm: Today's Times account of yesterday's events is a distillation of the wired-for-Republicans/Meet The Press insider culture which still shapes news in DC https://talkingpointsmemo.com/ ... via @TPM
Ryan Cooper / @ryanlcooper: “Here though is an article which is so comically wrong in its basic understanding of events that I really do have to wonder what's wrong with the publication's DC bureau.” https://talkingpointsmemo.com/ ...
James Gleick / @jamesgleick: I don't know how my former employer can be so devastatingly wrong about Washington politics when, if they read @joshtpm, they could get a clear understanding. https://twitter.com/...
Joe Sudbay / @joesudbay: as always, read @froomkin —> New York Times reporters humiliate themselves again “What the Times story revealed was the reporters' triumphalist delight in anything that can be characterized as a failure by progressives.” https://presswatchers.org/... via @froomkin
Dan Froomkin / @froomkin: This duo is up to tricks again today. I wrote about them yesterday. Does no one edit them? https://twitter.com/...
Dan Froomkin / @froomkin: Congress is a Rorschach test for political reporters, producing varied interpretations that reveal their own emotional functioning. The Times story revealed triumphalist delight in anything that can be characterized as a failure by progressives https://presswatchers.org/...
Eric Boehlert / @ericboehlert: it's gone from “feud” to “civil war”!! DC press has been a joke this week;https://www.newyorker.com/ ...
David Sirota / @davidsirota: What's interesting about this tweet is that it is from a New York Times “reporter” — he's issuing an edict that progressives must stand down, declaring that things will not happen. This isn't reporting — this is corporate advocacy. https://twitter.com/...
Dan Froomkin / @froomkin: An overwrought, smarmy and inaccurate lead Times story by @jonathanweisman and @ESCochrane described a sky-is-falling scenario for Democrats brought about by a “liberal revolt” that amounted to a “humiliating blow” for Biden. https://presswatchers.org/...
@pareene: really been something to see so much of the press still go with the usual “progressive tantrum is dooming the Democratic agenda” framing but I think the actual answer here is they now incredibly think of Biden as one of the extremists stopping Gottheimer from Being Reasonable https://twitter.com/...
Greg Sargent / @theplumlinegs: Now, we don't know if the bills will survive. The whole house of cards very well may collapse. But the idea that this postponement is itself the harbinger of doom is nonsense. Again, it all very well may fail. But if anything, last night makes success marginally more likely. 2/2
Greg Sargent / @theplumlinegs: CODA: As we wrote, a delay should NOT be seen as the sky falling. Instead of misinforming readers, tell them this is typical of major, complex legislation. Differences remain deep. But if the bills remain linked, bridging them is more likely, not less: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Dan Froomkin / @froomkin: FFS “The Democratic Civil War Has a Winner: Donald Trump” And: “The stakes for Biden are about as existential as they come in politics” https://twitter.com/...
Greg Sargent / @theplumlinegs: As expected, the postponement of the vote is being treated as a “crushing blow” and a “huge setback” to Biden's agenda. Utterly ludicrous. Such things happen all the time with complex legislation. This kind of coverage, which masquerades as savvy, is the opposite of savvy. 1/
Josh Marshall / Talking Points Memo: Something's Very Wrong with the Times
Angela Fu / Poynter:
Several current and former Gannett journalists share stories about unpaid overtime, after NewsGuild said it was investigating Gannett's workplace culture — The NewsGuild is investigating the issue and asking all Gannett employees to fill out a survey reporting unpaid work
Discussion:
Jordan Morey / @jordanamorey: This isn't, by any means, unique to Gannett. Ask any sports editor working at a small paper how many extra hours they put in per week off the clock. https://www.poynter.org/...
Nikki Usher / @nikkiusher: You know, I was a pretty talented young journalist & quit so early. There were lots of reasons why - (including covering super traumatic stuff) but this was another https://www.poynter.org/...
Rebekah Sanders / @rebekahlsanders: .@Gannett CEO Mike Reed claims unpaid overtime is an “isolated” problem in newsrooms. But Gannett just paid a $650,000 settlement in federal court for forcing 95 call center employees to work off the clock. https://www.poynter.org/...
@poynter: “There's been so many hours that I lost working for other newsrooms that didn't offer overtime, and it was so uncomfortable to have to just pretend that you weren't doing it because you know you can't ask for it.” https://www.poynter.org/...
Jackie Torok / @redhenjackie: (A-hem: Gannett's not the only guilty chain. Ask me how I know.) Journalists report working hundreds of hours of unpaid overtime at Gannett papers https://www.poynter.org/...
Dillon Rosenblatt / @dillonreedrose: Waiting for the day when @Gannett stops bullshitting everyone. I imagine that will never happen though especially when the statement provided accuses its own reporters of spreading misinformation. https://www.poynter.org/...
@mediaguildwest: Poorly run newsrooms sometimes force journalists into accepting wage theft as part of the workplace culture by making it as hard as possible to ask for rightfully owed overtime pay, like how @azcentral treated @ujohnnyg and others in the @azrepublicguild. https://www.poynter.org/... https://twitter.com/...
Arizona Republic Guild / @azrepublicguild: “When I did ask and other employees asked (for overtime pay), they'd be told, ‘You need to learn to manage your time better.’” Our job as journalists often requires more than 40 hours of work each week. But at @Gannett, we aren't always paid for it. https://www.poynter.org/...
Sarah Bahr / @smbahr14: “Overwork in journalism is a pretty insidious problem. There's been so many hours that I lost working for newsrooms that didn't offer overtime, and it was so uncomfortable to have to just pretend you weren't doing it because you know you can't ask for it."https://www.poynter.org/ ...
@kerrymflynn: “Getting this reaction that 15 or 30 min is going to bankrupt the company really kind of pressures you to just ignore it. Like, 'Well it's just 15 min. Oh, it's just 30 min.' But it's not. It's time that you worked” @angelanfu w more on Gannett unpaid OT https://www.poynter.org/...
Joshua Bowling / @mrjoshuabowling: Journalists at The Arizona Republic are known for their attention to detail, their willingness to chase a story to the end. But they're also know for their bravery and their willingness to speak up. These people make me proud to work here. https://www.poynter.org/...
Amitha Kalaichandran / Poynter:
How editors can better assess the credibility of experts and raise standards for op-eds, as contrarian viewpoints on COVID-19 flood opinion sections — An influx of contrarian viewpoints on COVID-19 policy in mainstream opinion journalism could have dire consequences on how the pandemic plays out.
Max Willens / Digiday:
News app Newsbreak, which claims 45M MAUs, hires Snap's Xana O'Neill as head of original content as it tries to boost its nearly 3,000-strong creator program — After about a year of trying to get into the original content business, Newsbreak is unofficially starting over.
Sarah Scire / Nieman Lab:
INN: the number of local nonprofit news sites nearly doubled since 2016, with 33 launching between 2018 and 2020; single-topic nonprofits quadrupled since 2008 — The number of single-topic nonprofit news organizations has quadrupled since 2008, according to a series of new reports …
Discussion:
Nicholas Dawes / @nicdawes: @SarahScire @NiemanLab And when local nonprofit newsrooms build durable partnerships with specialist national outlets, a powerful new kind of networked journalism organism begins to grow.
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