Description: A "devastating" (Nation) examination of how a cabal of tech-billionaires is colluding with once-idealistic journalists to create an entirely new media landscape
Owned is the story of the underreported and growing collusion between new wealth and new journalism. In recent years, right-wing billionaires like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and David Sacks have turned to media as their next investment and source of influence. Their cronies are Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi--once known as idealistic and left-leaning voices, now beneficiaries of Silicon Valley largesse. Together, this new alliance aims to exploit the failings of traditional journalism and undermine the very idea of an independent and fact-based fourth estate. Owned examines how this shift has allowed spectacularly wealthy reactionaries to pursue their ultimate goal of censoring critics so to further their own business interests--and personal vendettas--entirely unimpeded while also advancing a toxic and antidemocratic ideology. A rich history of the decades-long rise of this new right-wing alternative media takeover, Owned follows the money, names names, and offers a chilling portrait of a future social media and news landscape. It is a biting exposé of journalistic greed, tech-billionaire ambition, and a lament for a disappearing free press.Review Quotes: "This book offers a dogged accounting of how prominent left-liberals joined an ascendant choir of far-right voices, providing insightful analysis of how a group of reactionary tech billionaires have backed this transformation. We can only escape this nightmare if we understand how we got here--Owned shines some much needed light into the darkest recesses to today's mediascape."
--Edward Ongweso, podcast co-host of This Machine Kills