A little more than a year after his forced exit from Business Insider, Pax Dickinson has reemerged to form ExposeCorruption.Org, an online media watchdog group.
Still in the process of raising startup cash, Dickinson told the Washington Examiner in an interview this week that the project is “a culmination of a lot of threads coming together.”
“It seems clear to me that the time was right for a project like this, and that this was something that the people want,” he added, referencing what he sees as a growing problem of journalists using the power of the media to whip up public outrage.
And Dickinson is no stranger to public outrage.
In 2013, the then-chief technology officer for Business Insider came under fire after reporters discovered that he had a penchant for tweeting highly controversial remarks.
He became famous almost immediately, but for all the wrong reasons.
Dickenson attempted to defend his tweets, pushing back on articles aimed at his eyebrow-raising comments, but to no avail: Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget announced on Sept. 10, 2013, that it had parted with its controversial executive.
“A Business Insider executive has made some comments on Twitter that do not reflect our values and have no place at our company,” Blodget said in a statement. “The executive has left the company, effective immediately.”
Explaining the need for groups like ExposeCorruption.Org, Dickinson referred specifically to the controversy surrounding Brendan Eich, the Mozilla CEO who resigned suddenly on Apr. 3, 2014, following backlash over the fact that he donated $1,000 in 2008 in support of California’s Proposition 8, a ballot measure to define marriage as being between one man and one woman. He believes the media and online advocacy groups played a large role in Eich’s ouster and that those who lead the charge should be held accountable.
Provided he gets the startup cash necessary, Dickinson said he has a list of groups that he plans to monitor.
“I expect to start with those who exhibit the most contempt for their own readers, and those who by their past behavior have demonstrated a dismissive attitude towards journalism ethics,” he told the Washington Examiner. “Ultimately, though, this is not about ‘going after’ people as much as it’s an effort to build an organization that can act as a check and balance against what more and more of us regular folks see as out-of-control and unethical behavior on the part of journalists.”
Dickinson envisions a sophisticated operation, something to be feared by what he says are unethical forces in modern-day journalism.
The goal is to “compile detailed dossiers of media figures in the same way that journalists compile information on politicians,” he said. “As an organization that is itself outside of the media industry and funded directly by our supporters we’ll be able to take a uniquely independent approach to the subject.”
“We want to map out the hypocrisy, corruption, influence, and back room relationships endemic to the journalism industry,” he added.
He further explained what he sees as a serious problem in today’s reporting: “The media is an extremely strong locus of power in our country’s system and while politicians are regularly required to re-affirm the people’s approval, journalists are only held accountable by other journalists.”
“This is an inherently corruptible arrangement. The power of the media is the 800-pound gorilla in the room of democracy. Those who work to manufacture consent of the governed often have more power than the formal/elected government. Pretending not to see that has never been in anyone’s interest … except the media’s,” he added.
For now, though, Dickinson is working to raise funds for his project, his experience defending his tweets in 2013 acting as something of a guiding force.
“I wouldn’t say [the project is] ‘born’ from that,” he said when asked by the Washington Examiner if his startup was inspired by his personal experiences dealing with reporters who have in the past published less-than-flattering things about him.
“[B]ut the unethical behavior of the media towards me certainly made me much more aware and interested in the problem,” he added. “What happened to me didn’t take place in a vacuum and we’ve collectively as a nation seen even worse behavior on the part of the media in general over the year since that happened.”
