Owned
How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left

Name: Owned
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Author: Eoin Higgins
ISBN: 9798228358249

Author: Eoin Higgins

Narrator: Ramiz Monsef

Unabridged: 7 hr 2 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 02/04/2025

Categories: Nonfiction, Political Science, Political Process, Social Science, Media Studies, Commentary & Opinion, Censorship

Synopsis

A cabal of tech-billionaires is colluding with once-idealistic journalists to create an entirely new media landscape.Owned is the story of the underreported and growing collusion between new wealth and new journalism. In recent years, right-wing billionaires like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and David Sacks have turned to media as their next investment and source of influence. Their cronies are Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi—once known as idealistic and left-leaning voices, now beneficiaries of Silicon Valley largesse. Together, this new alliance aims to exploit the failings of traditional journalism and undermine the very idea of an independent and fact-based fourth estate.Owned examines how this shift has allowed spectacularly wealthy reactionaries to pursue their ultimate goal of censoring critics so to further their own business interests—and personal vendettas—entirely unimpeded while also advancing a toxic and antidemocratic ideology.A rich history of the decades-long rise of this new right-wing alternative media takeover, Owned follows the money, names names, and offers a chilling portrait of a future social media and news landscape. It is a biting exposé of journalistic greed, tech-billionaire ambition, and a lament for a disappearing free press.

About Eoin Higgins

Eoin Higgins is a journalist and historian from New England. His work has appeared in many publications, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Intercept, he New Republic, The Nation, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Common Dreams, The Outline, Splinter, Deadspin, and many others. Additionally he writes for Morning Brew’s tech newsletter, IT Brew. He can be found at his Twitter account (@eoinhiggins), where he engages regularly with a large audience on tech and US and world politics.

About Ramiz Monsef

Ramiz Monsef has spent several seasons as a member of Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s acting company, and he is the playwright of OSF’s 2013 production The Unfortunates. He has also appeared onstage in New York and in numerous regional productions.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ula on February 02, 2025

I remember Glenn Greenwood from his role in the famous Snowden leak, so I was shocked to learn of his conservative turn. That's why this book piqued my interest, but I found it a bit disappointing. Sure, there are some interesting facts about the connections between the media and tech moguls (yes, E......more

Goodreads review by Logan on October 20, 2024

Inelegantly, our continuing Decision '24 coverage could be summed up as: what the **** is going on? No book so far captures that sentiment as Owned. Possibly with the appending of a "dude." The book is a micro-biography of two journalists, Glen Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, and a nano-biography of silic......more

Goodreads review by M.B. on February 19, 2025

Higgins starts from asking how and why the career trajectories of Matt Taibbi and Glenn Greenwald took the turn they did in the past decade or so, and goes from there into an analysis of the ideological development of Silicon Valley Technofeudalists and their rightward turn to explain that change. A......more

Goodreads review by Morgan on February 04, 2025

Owned looks at former left wing journalists like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi while documenting their right wing shift. I think this book was written a bit too early due to certain current events (Elon Musk) as well as how surface level it felt at times. I wish more time was spent on reactionary......more

Goodreads review by Grant on February 23, 2025

A good survey of the left-libertarian to right wing pipeline and the Silicon Valley-inflected that creates it, focussing on Matt Taibbi and Glen Greenwald. In its later stages, it might get a little too big in scope discussing the rightward bent of Silicon Valley in general—a subject that can fill t......more

Quotes

“The career trajectory of two prominent and important journalists…into the snug patronage of billionaires is a story with profound and troubling implications for the future of journalism and unfettered thinking.” The Nation

“An eye-opening recap of how Silicon Valley billionaires built a right-wing mediasphere with the help of lefty journalists…The highlight is his sharp reporting…It’s a juicy look at today’s online political landscape.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“An incisive analysis of the influence of money and big-tech executives in right-wing media.” Library Journal

“Expertly tells the story of how thin-skinned hostility to scrutiny and criticism led a clique of right-wing billionaires to subvert journalism by capturing or silencing critical voices…Higgins does what really fearless independent journalists do best: tells us what we need to know.” Mike Duncan, New York Times bestselling author

“We can only escape this nightmare if we understand how we got here—Owned shines some much needed light into the darkest recesses of today’s mediascape.” Edward Ongweso, podcast co-host of This Machine Kills

“An impressively researched look into the decades long partnership between tech oligarchs and the authoritarian right that have a vested interest in keeping us all less informed and perpetually agitated, and some of the key players who have benefited most from our collective loss.” Luke O’Neil, author of Welcome to Hell World