The Problem with "CEO Said a Thing" Journalism w/ Karl Bode

About this episode

Paris Marx and Karl Bode discuss the impact of tech journalism on public trust and the role of corporate interests in shaping narratives around tech CEOs.

Paris Marx is joined by Karl Bode to discuss how tech journalists coupled with corporate interests are irresponsibly boosting the profile of tech CEOs, further damaging public trust in institutional journalism and highlighting the need for publicly funded media organizations. Karl Bode is a freelance reporter and writes The Fine Print newsletter. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Also mentioned in this episode: Karl wrote about how the press mythologizes tech CEOs. The New Yorker published a brutal article on Sam Altman’s compulsive lying to get ahead. OpenAI’s Pentagon deal led to a large user migration. Shout out to Karen Hao’s book Empire of AI Allbirds, the shoe company, is now entering the AI space. Here is the latest on the attacks on Sam Altman’s home. Meta has been found to amplify hate and contribute to genocide, something that is an ongoing concern with the platform. And we can’t forget about attempts to force their ‘Free Basics’…

People in this episode

Host: Paris Marx

Guest: Karl Bode

Topics covered

• journalism
• tech CEOs
• public trust
• media organizations
• corporate interests
• publicly funded media

Keywords

• tech journalism
• corporate interests
• public trust
• media
• tech CEOs
• publicly funded media

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Nation, OpenAI, Meta

Books & works: Empire of AI

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