Q&A with Casey Newton on incentives for media and reporters in the age of social media, why some people in tech hate tech press, evolution of Facebook, and more
The Verge's Silicon Valley editor discusses tech media, recent issues with Facebook, and more … Part of the tech world is fed up with tech journalists. Tweets: @dlberes , @caseynewton , @kantrowitz , @mvzelenks , @ceonyc , @mathewi , @ericnewcomer , @logandobson , @alexstamos , @joshua_eaton , @fbajak , @alxthomp , @rmac18 , @bcmerchant , @mat , @samirsalimjr , @kerrymflynn , @henrysporter , and @annawiener See also Mediagazer Tweets: Damon Beres / @dlberes : I tried to tell @Kantrowitz that it is already here for me, personally, but anyway he makes a very good case imo https://onezero.medium.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : My friend @kantrowitz has a new podcast and he let me explain my entire view of Facebook and journalism in 2020. It was extremely cathartic to say all of this out loud!! (Also thanks to @ozm for publishing a transcript) https://onezero.medium.com/... Alex Kantrowitz / @kantrowitz : The terrific @ozm will be publishing the transcripts of the podcast, as part of our exclusive syndication agreement. Here's the first with @CaseyNewton: https://onezero.medium.com/... Michael Zelenko / @mvzelenks : a fascinating interview that gets to the very heart of why I can't stand @CaseyNewton Why People Can't Stand Tech Journalists: An Interview With Casey Newton by @Kantrowitz in @OZM https://onezero.medium.com/... Charlie O'Donnell / @ceonyc : “... the newsletter enables... me to build trust, b/c...you get a sense of where I'm coming from, what I'm interested in... I'm not clamoring for your attention by writing the most dramatic possible version of everything.” — @CaseyNewton https://onezero.medium.com/... Mathew Ingram / @mathewi : Good interview with @CaseyNewton on some of the flaws in tech journalism, including (surprise!) a lack of nuance due in part to the constant clamoring for attention on a certain social media service https://twitter.com/... Eric Newcomer / @ericnewcomer : tech journalist: is the tech press bad? other tech journalist: no, it is good https://onezero.medium.com/... Logan Dobson / @logandobson : enjoying listening @CaseyNewton on @Kantrowitz's podcast, but the very first answer from Mr. Newton **unintentionally** gets at why people don't trust tech reporters — it feels like they only realized reporting was important... in the past four years https://onezero.medium.com/... https://twitter.com/... Alex Stamos / @alexstamos : This is a really thoughtful conversation. https://twitter.com/... Joshua Eaton / @joshua_eaton : “When I read investigative reporting, so rarely does it have a sense of proportion. An investigative report will never admit that what it has found is anything less than worthy of a Pulitzer.” I ... don't think that's true? https://onezero.medium.com/... Frank Bajak / @fbajak : “Facebook is almost a uniquely unaccountable company. (Zuck) has majority control over the board, and no one can really meaningfully intervene if Facebook does something that they don't like other than sort of mount a public pressure campaign” https://onezero.medium.com/... Alex Thompson / @alxthomp : .@CaseyNewton says he doesn't think Sheryl Sandberg will stay at fb much longer. “She seems constantly exasperated by everything that happened inside of Facebook....I can't figure out what Sheryl likes about her job right now.” https://onezero.medium.com/... @rmac18 : Really enjoyed this long conversation between my two fave newsletter guys as they discuss why that dude who tweets “these things didn't exist the last time the Yankees won the pennant” gets so many clicks. https://onezero.medium.com/... Brian Merchant / @bcmerchant : This is an interesting chat between @Kantrowitz + @CaseyNewton but to me it elides the one very obvious reason that tech execs, VCs + industry boosters hate tech journalists—those parties have a vested interest in making people hate them! https://onezero.medium.com/... Mat Honan / @mat : I tremendously enjoyed this video of two clowns whipping each other with dead fish https://onezero.medium.com/... Samir Salim Jr / @samirsalimjr : sobre tech press “...it has robbed publications of their individual identities. So, every website is just a version of every other website, and I think that has kind of undermined trust in the press generally because there's just kind of a sameness to it” https://onezero.medium.com/... @kerrymflynn : Really interesting convo between @Kantrowitz and @CaseyNewton I especially liked the end where Casey explains how writing a newsletter has improved his work as a journalist https://onezero.medium.com/... https://twitter.com/... Henry Porter / @henrysporter : @CaseyNewton @annawiener @bcmerchant I think this is important - there is a danger that critics are not defending tech, but defending tech *investors & management*. Sources below founder/senior level are ignored or, for example, assumed to be lazy when claiming company culture was problematic Anna Wiener / @annawiener : @CaseyNewton @bcmerchant an interesting flavor of this is casting aspersions at the tech media for having an axe to grind (with respect to, say, critical stories about relatively new startups, or women CEOs), instead of engaging with the content of those stories, which often detail employee mistreatment See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Newton's Q&A arrives in the middle of a documented rupture between Silicon Valley and its press: The New Yorker had just traced the rifting between prominent SV figures and critical journalists through the Slate Star Codex vs. NYT case. His candor about his own industry's incentives is notable because it comes from inside the group being attacked.
The interview also previews what came next: Andreessen Horowitz's move to launch its own opinion section and the open warfare between a16z partners, Balaji Srinivasan and tech journalists that followed show the industry choosing self-publishing over engagement with coverage.
First-order effects
- Newton concedes that tech media's own incentives feed the distrust executives and VCs cite — handing critics of the press a credible internal witness while keeping pressure on Facebook, which he argues is nearly unaccountable because Zuckerberg controls the board.
Second-order effects
- When the people who control capital conclude the press is structurally hostile, they fund their own channels instead — a16z's outside-contributor opinion section is the direct institutional response, bypassing the newsrooms Newton represents.
- Homogenized tech news sites eroding reader trust pushes audiences toward these industry-run outlets, compounding the ad-market weakness Ben Thompson flags when arguing against forcing Facebook and Google to pay for news.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, tech accountability shifts from independent journalism to self-published corporate media — a problem Newton's Facebook analysis sharpens, since founder-controlled companies already lack internal checks and would now face fewer external ones.
The trend: Silicon Valley is substituting owned media for engagement with an independent tech press, while reporters themselves begin diagnosing the incentive flaws fueling the split.