journalism | @pmarca Says

Andreessen Horowitz Invests $50 Million In BuzzFeed

August 11, 2014 / Jeffro / No Comments

Tonight I’m tickled pink to be able to talk about our new investment in BuzzFeed! My partner @cdixon discusses our new investment in BuzzFeed here.

We think of BuzzFeed as a technology company. They embrace Internet culture. Everything is first optimized for mobile and social. BuzzFeed has technology at its core. Its 100+ person tech team has created world-class systems. Engineers are first class citizens.

On top of its technology core, BuzzFeed’s reporting team is now routinely committing breathtaking investigative journalism.Here are a few examples.

@maxseddon at the Malaysian airlines crash site in Ukraine.
@itsjina‘s amazing story of Rwandan women flexing their political muscles.
@jlfeder on how Vladimir Putin uses anti-gay policies as a geopolitical strategy.
@AramRoston on how the US covertly arms its proxies around the world.

We think the opportunity in front of @peretti, @BuzzFeedBen, @zefrank, and their colleagues is effectively unbounded. We are very excited to work with everyone at BuzzFeed to help them realize their dreams of a profoundly important new media institution.

@pmarca @peretti @BuzzFeedBen @zefrank @cdixon Congrats!!

— Michael Heyward (@michaelheywire) August 11, 2014

@Halley @zefrank Disagree on Buzzfeed, agree on Ze :-).

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 11, 2014

@pmarca you and your team are smart to have invested in buzzfeed. Tech and content in one package makes for a great product

— Anthony Batt (@djabatt) August 11, 2014

Source Tweets: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12

Why We Live In The Golden Age Of Journalism

August 11, 2014 / Jeffro / No Comments

Something I believe that a lot of people I know believe is that, we live in the golden age of journalism as measured by the quality of the top contributors. I’ve collected 238 members of the press I most respect into this Twitter list. It’s a joy to read every day! As I’ve discussed before, the great unexpected side effect of the Internet is that the best journalists have a far broader reach now. I can’t resist singling out some who fall into the category of drop everything I’m doing to read anything they write.

In politics: @MarkHalperin, @jheil, @MarkLeibovich, @nickconfessore, @harrispolitico — it’s routinely amazing how deep they go.
Economics: @worstall explains the world we live in better than anyone; joined by @greg_ip and @Neil_Irwin for deep dives into macro econ.
Financial crisis made clear quality of reporting by @andrewrsorkin, @KateKellyCNBC, @GZuckerman, @bethanymac12, and @BoydRoddy.
At the intersection of finance and economics, the ongoing work by @TMFHousel and @matt_levine is truly extraordinary & deeply insightful.
Business: I can’t wait to see what @adamlashinsky, @jessiwrites, @JPManga, @rparloff, @alansmurray and team do now that Fortune is free of TW.
In tech we’re blessed with many greats, including @kmaney, @SteveLohr, @martingiles, @kashhill, and @nicoleperlroth: too many to list.
For deep substance in complex fields, I love @StevenBrill e.g. Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us and @lawrence_wright e.g. The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

It’s sheer delight to watch the impact @ezraklein @mattyglesias and their colleagues at @voxdotcom are having: I love being voxsplained! My inner engineer and math nerd marvels at @FiveThirtyEight — their quantitative lens adds tremendously to complex real world topics. Finally, it’s really remarkable watching @vicenews bring back full-on gonzo journalism, including in the world’s most dangerous places.

Over the next 5-10 years, I think we’ll be able to build more tools/systems for reporters like these to maximize their scope and opportunity. The quality of work plus the explosion of journalism entrepreneurship plus the rise of 5 billion smartphones in the world plus new tools/systems equals interesting times!

@dottavi That was pre-smartphone. We'll see.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014

@cleantechvc @mims Added!

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014

@datarade Oh, wow, I love that.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014

@mlieber It would need to have technology in its core.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014

@mlieber We do fund quite a few tech companies with media business models. Would fund a pure media co with deep technology behind it.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014

@pmarca Funny. I have increasing replaced "journalists" with primary sources that live/work in areas of interest. They are becoming bypassed

— Lisa Thompson (@LTommy256) August 10, 2014

@pmarca disintermediating news outfits first to shift value to reporters, then intermediating again to help people find right news stories..

— escala.vc (@escalaVC) August 10, 2014

@GordonMoat Not necessarily true! Depends how you go about it.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) August 10, 2014

Source Tweets: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16