Axios CEO Jim VandeHei and X proprietor Elon Musk locked horns over who defines “the media” within the wake of the election.
Within the early morning hours of Nov. 6, as Donald Trump was being declared president-elect, Musk wrote to his X followers, “You’re the media now,” a sentiment he has repeated within the weeks since.
VandeHei delivered a fiery speech in response on Thursday as he was honored, alongside together with his Axios co-founder Mike Allen, with the Nationwide Press Membership’s Fourth Property Award.
“I hate this rattling debate about, like, ‘Oh, we don’t want the media,’” the Axios CEO mentioned, later arguing that, for journalists, “The whole lot we do is underneath hearth.”
“Elon Musk sits on Twitter each day, or X in the present day, saying, like, ‘We’re the media! You’re the media!’ My message to Elon Musk is: ‘Bulls—. You’re not the media.’” he mentioned to applause.
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Elon Musk laughs whereas onstage throughout The New York Occasions Dealbook Summit 2023 at Jazz at Lincoln Middle on November 29, 2023 in New York Metropolis. (Picture by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Pictures for The New York Occasions) (Getty Pictures)
“You having a blue checkmark, a Twitter deal with, and 300 phrases of cleverness doesn’t make you a reporter any greater than me taking a look at your head and seeing that you’ve got a mind and telling you I’ve an superior set of instruments makes me a rattling neurosurgeon, proper? Like, what we do, what journalists do, what you probably did in Mississippi, what Al Jazeera does within the Center East,” he mentioned, referencing different award winners within the room.
VandeHei then appeared to name out Musk once more, “You proclaim your self to be a reporter? Like, that’s nonsense. Like, being a reporter is difficult, actually arduous. You must care. You must do the arduous work. You must stand up each single day and say, ‘I wish to get to the closest approximation of the reality with none concern, with none favoritism.’ You don’t do this by popping off on Twitter. You don’t do this by having an opinion. You do it by doing the arduous work.”
Musk shared a clip from the speech and replied, “Yeah, no matter lmao.” He then appeared to deal with X customers in saying, “You’re the media now. And legacy media realize it.”
He additionally responded to a Not The Bee article headlined “Axios’ CEO had a meltdown as a result of Elon Musk says citizen reporters have eclipsed the company media,” replying, “That’s as a result of it’s working. You’re the media now.”
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Axios CEO Jim VandeHei scorched Elon Musk and the X platform for emboldening on a regular basis folks to suppose they will search out the reality of present occasions in addition to journalists. (Nationwide Press Membership Dwell YouTube channel)
“The legacy media forgot that honesty actually is one of the best coverage,” he added. “Now you’re the media.”
The day after the election, Musk wrote, “The fact of this election was plain to see on X, whereas most legacy media lied relentlessly to the general public. You’re the media now. Please submit your ideas & observations on X, appropriate others when incorrect and we could have at the very least one place on the earth the place you possibly can come to seek out the reality.”
The credibility and recognition of mainstream media has plummeted in recent times.
A examine shared by Gallup in October signifies that American’s belief within the information media stays at a historic low, with solely 31% of these polled expressing a “nice deal” or “honest quantity” of religion within the media to report information correctly.
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“For the third consecutive 12 months, extra U.S. adults haven’t any belief in any respect within the media (36%) than belief it an awesome deal or honest quantity. One other 33% of Individuals specific ‘not very a lot’ confidence,” Gallup Senior Editor Megan Brenan wrote.
Polling additionally signifies that the information media is the “least trusted group amongst 10 U.S. civic and political establishments,” with the U.S. Congress solely barely behind at 34%.