Joshua Benton

Carlos Watson’s luck may have run out. The founder of Ozy — that Google-exec-impersonating, mystery-traffic-generating discoverer of people who have already been discovered — was found guilty Tuesday in his trial in Brooklyn. A jury of his peers found he had indeed engaged in a conspiracy t…

“The strength of weak ties” applies to misinformation, too.

The New York Times and the Washington Post compete with meme accounts for the chance to be first with a big headline.

Google — which planned to block third-party cookies in 2022, then 2023, then 2024, then 2025 — now says it won't block them after all. A big win for adtech, but what about publishers?

"Elections, it seems, amplify the influence of partisanship on the perception of truth."

After finding success — and a Pulitzer Prize — in Santa Cruz, Lookout aims to replicate its model in Oregon. "All of these playbooks are at least partially written. You sometimes hear people say, 'Nobody's figured it out yet.' But this is all about execution."

From defunding NPR and PBS to kicking reporters out of the White House, it's an array of conservative priorities and Trumpian retreads.

Partisanship, conspiratorial thinking, and IRL connections make for a potent mix — on both the left and the right.

It has a much better chance of success than CNN+ ever did. But it still has to convince people its work is distinctive enough to break out the credit card.

In normal times, text-only websites are a niche interest. But a natural disaster is not normal times.