{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "description": "Owned is, unfortunately, a fairly shallow look at how the patronage of tech billionaires has managed to push several prominent journalists to the political right, causing them to defend and align with the interests of their patrons. I became aware of Glenn Greenwald due to his involvement in reporting the Snowden leaks and was vaguely aware of Matt Taibbi. Greenwald appeared to do perfectly fine work with respect to the Snowden leaks and I knew them to both be a bit, well, abrasive . Owned provides a bit more detail about their origins and then delves into their rightward shift. It ties that shift to their financial interests and, given how that shift coincided with their improved financial prospects made possible by the largess of rightwing Silicon Valley elites, it makes sense that their patrons guided their views. This is hardly a unique phenomenon though and it's a trend that's helping further the long, drawn out death of journalism in the United States and abroad. Billionaires don't buy newspapers, broadcasters and journalists to benefit the public, they do it to shift the public discourse in a direction that favors them. If the actions and motivations of any given billionaire appear to align with those of the public, that is merely a temporary illusion. Tech titans throw their money at journalists to buy favorable coverage. They provide access in exchange for influence on coverage. They buy newspapers to shift the coverage, hollow them out and destroy them. It's a corrupting, corrosive pattern. Where then do you turn for information? Ah, yes, the platforms said billionaires also control.",
  "path": "/reading/books/9781645030461/owned",
  "publishedAt": "2025-10-12T00:00:00Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:sttgf52vkk46f6yuknvqxvgh/site.standard.publication/self",
  "tags": [
    "journalism",
    "tech",
    "politics",
    "nonfiction"
  ],
  "title": "Owned"
}