Mediaite’s Colby Hall: ‘Calling Ozy Media a Dumpster Fire is an Insult to Dumpsters and Fires’

Mediate Founding Editor Colby Hall opined on the clusterf*ck that is Ozy Media during an appearance on NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live, saying, “calling Ozy Media a dumpster fire is an insult to dumpsters and fires.”

On Sunday evening the New York Times published a remarkable report by Ben Smith, which painted the media start-up that targets millennials as a Potemkin Village.

The report further alleged that the COO,  Samir Rao, impersonated a YouTube executive during a phone call with Goldman Sachs investors in an attempt to raise capitol. The act was dismissed as a mental health issue by Ozy CEO Carlos Watson, but will almost certainly be investigated for securities fraud.

But the point that anchor Dan Abrams — also the founder and publisher of Mediaite — focused on was the shocking lack of attention this story was given by cable and network news outlets. CNN’s Brian Stelter has been the only cable news person, according to a search of the media monitoring service TVEyes, to report on this story — which he did during an appearance on New Day Thursday morning.

After laying out a compelling case of why this story was deserving of more attention, complete with compelling evidence, Abrams asked, “Why were so many willing to turn a blind eye despite all the red flags?”

In introducing Hall, he followed by questioning how this happened, adding, “Brian Stelter says it was an open secret. What does that mean. an open secret? So no one actually called them out?”

Hall dinged Ozy Media as dumpster fire but then cast a critical eye towards media reporters for ignoring a story that was effectively hiding in broad daylight.

He then explained that “a lot of media reporters just kind of dropped the ball and, of course, for them to talk about it now is an admission of their errors.”

Watch above via NewsNation.