i'm trying to say, how is that possible >> yeah, carlos watson. >> yes, how is that possible carlos watsont facebook could get through this, and now we need real answers that was just terrible >> anybody who says they have a small by says this is the best way to reach people, but this is a real -- >> we've done great with our restaurant and instagram i just feel like that series was devastating. a lot of devastation this morning. the carlos watson interview was devastating. i want to hear what facebook has to say, but i think that series -- aren't you guys just stunned? >> as a parent of teenagers or preteens, it is something you are concerned about. we have seenle fallout i think this is now hitting the point where people have serious questions, where congress is likely going to dig into this. >> yes, yes. marc benioff last week at a conference said, there's truth or there's power you have to elect which one you want facebook has clearly selected power. at this point in our lives i think we just want truth there was not a lot of truth expressed by the company versus what we read. >> jim,

the digital startup was launched in 2013 by carlos watson and samir rao. it described itself as having a sizable audience and reach, producing videos, newsletters and events, raising millions but in recent weeks the question came and then some more one media analyst, coby hall at media hype, put it this way -- calling ozy media a dumpster fire is an insult to dumpsters and fires. and every day that fire kept growing. people in and outside the company running for the exit its chairman and initial investor mark lazry stepped down s.v. angel a key investor reportedly gave up its shares. and katty kay, a well-known bbc host anchor who joined ozy this summer, resigned and advertisers bailed fast. ally financial just today saying it's pausing its business with ozy media hours before the company closed for good. all of this after "the new york times" reported one of many bombshell claims the first, a case of impersonation. the "times" says the company's co-founder pretended to be someone from youtube, playing up to potential investors about how successful ozy med

why would anyone trust carlos watson moving forward?o people trusting me i'm the son of teacher you've known me for a number of years and we've interacted in a in of ways here is what i would say last week i got some incredibly bass advice. i got advice to go silent. i should not have done that. what ended up over the next week were some half truths, some things that we did not well and that we should have done better or different and we will own them around data and marketing and i wish i had stepped up. part of my reason on being here today with you is to engage on some of those things including some of the things we mentioned. let's take the a&e issue we've done shows for a&e, for lifetime, for the history channel and originally we talked to them about it they moved too slowly on it. we notified them we were going to move it to youtube. the gentleman you mentioned who was part of that story knew that we had moved it to youtube and yet now comes forward and says i didn't know, i didn't know of course he knew. >> okay. let's accept tha

beyond that, there's also just this tale of a flat-out impersonation, someone carlos watson worked withs. that's dishonest fundamentally. >> there are a number of flat-out lies they told. they had "the carlos wattson show" and told the crew it would air on a&e and turned out a video they posted to youtube they told other people this is a special youtube thing, youtube is paying for and carlos said that in writing and that wasn't true. they're trying to get goldman to invest and i think they want someone to say look how great our relationship is with youtube. ultimately they post rid yos to the website like you could or i could. they put somebody, impersonate a youtube executive to make themselves look good. they also have posters up all around new york, particularly near ad agencies with quotes "the fastest showing show on youtube" that is also not the case. >> what's the bigger picture, ben, someone faking it 'til they make it or does this cross a different line? >> when you're lying to investors -- lying to advertisers sadly perhaps i think is fairly common. perhaps i don't know, i do

. >> reporter: the effort was led by carlos watson who wued some of the most recognizable figures in litics and entertainment to be guests on his show. >> what's going on, carlos? >> and speakers at the company's annual festival, ozy fest. >> great to be at ozy fest. >> the leaders got eager investors on board touting a social justice push, particularly in the wake of the national protests over racial injustice last summer. >> i want to end up supporting people who you think are pretty unique and different. carlos does that. i think ozy does that. >> the glittery facade same crashing down after the new york times citing four anonymous sources alleged ozy's coo impersonated a youtube executive on a conference call with goldman sacs, a potential investor. they when it was allegedly row. the executives began to grow suspicion when the voice on the phone sounded digitally altered. "the times" reports after the call youtube security teams started an investigation and youtube's owner google alerted the fbi. >> it was part of a pattern of deceiving investors, advertisers, the media, all sort

i know carlos watson and everyone seems to know carl carlos watson. by boasting the numbers up like many people do? >> i can't suggest his motive, i think his partners at times lied to their employees, lied to their advertisers, and certainly an order of magnitude beyond the kind of puffery that's sort of common in media and let's say business forever, but really to a much, much more extreme degree. >> were they attempting to, you know, credibility by association, by booking the dr. anthony faucis of the world? i think you were on the show once. by booking well-known people, is it like saddling up to success and pretending to be successful? >> the audience that really ate ozy up was too, the billionaire executives and ozy executives. i think you have been in conversations with those at the very, very top of the american per mid-a pyramid and breathe that very thin air up there and they're like why can't news have less conflict and messiness be just having bipartisan conversations across the aisle, in which no one is ever made uncomfortable, particular

andrew ross sorkin asked carlos watson about. >> i'm looking at the deck 25% email opens.ge 25% open rate. 2.5 times industry and 3% ctr. doesn't have a star next to it that says just the people who are actively engaged with you in some way >> you know, i need to look at that more closely but, look, let's make sure that we do something here, which is that i don't want -- if you and i looked at any small company or any large company, we would find a handful of things that are great just to be really clear. we would find that and just because something is sloppy or stupid doesn't mean it's illegal, right? >> since the allegations, ozy's media board has hired a law firm now "the new york times" is reporting that that investigation will move forward since the ozy board members are no longer with ozy ozy has not elaborated on whether the staff will move forward or how it continues to move forward. >> the supreme court is back in session as of today. it could be an incredibly consequential term abortion and gun rights are at the top of the agenda. liberal leading justices are he

its founder, carlos watson, told cnbc today that ozy is not shutting down after all, despite public byit was doing just that three days ago, amid a torrent of bombshell allegations over its business practices. >> as embarrassing sometimes as it may feel to do, i realize we were premature i realize we have something special here i think there's a really good opportunity. >> amid the allegations, a co-founder impersonated an executive to rain money. watson admitted to that. that executives pretended to appear on the cable network a&e when there was no such deal. watson says that was a mix o miscommunication and misunderstanding and that the company was accused of inflating some of the metrics that it uses to get eadvertiser into the fold. the company had a presentation about the number who opened ozy media's email letters. andrew ross sorkin asked carlos watson about that this morning >> i'm looking at the deck i'll show it to you right here 25% email opens. ozy email average 25% open rate. 2.5 times industry and 3% ctr. doesn't have a star next to it that says, just the people who are a

carlos watson then went out and told people, yes, the osbornes are investors.g to give my money to jimmy buffett and going out and saying, hey, guess who my investors are? that is an insane lie. >> i guess i think of it as incredible spin, but you're the finance professional. >> what will be the consequences of all this? >> i think it depends. if what happened here is advertisers got deceived, in the end. i think if it turns out that that phone call with investors was not the only time that they explicitly lied to investors, that's where it becomes fbi or securities and exchange commission issue. which could be securities fraud or wire fraud. the fbi certainly looked into it initially. i don't know the status of that investigation. >> well, they say they may be down, but they're not out and they're moving forward, producing shows and news letters. how are they going to do that? in what scenario would it be normal that they would say, yes, we have financial backers. we're just not telling you who they are and we're not tell you who's on our board. this is a medi

let alone carlos watson. >> yeah.hink that i anticipated people would be this interested in this story. >> yeah, it has -- because it touches everything, right. it touches banking with goldman sachs, it touches the whole idea of people being imposters, the imposter syndrome and the idea of faiking it until you make it, where is the line? clearly the line has gone up how do you think that this -- what seems like from the outside, a scam went on this long and brought so many big names and big money into its world? >> first of all, i think, you know, i want to be careful it was not a pure scam there were lots of journalists and producers and employees making real content for ozy, only not a lot of people were consuming the content. they worked hard given the level of deception they were sigh mo -- simultaneously doing but as is true with these things, particularly fund-raising if you can hold a mirror up and show people what they want to see, which in this case was a company that had kind of progressive values and slick

by now i'm sure you heard about carlos watson and the implosion of ozzie media.urnalism, nor did it ever make an impact producing multimedia content, but that sure didn't stop investors from filling watson's coffers with more than $70 million in funding. why? because he had that gift of making white people comfortable. for those of us who don't prioritize their feelings over our actual equality, funding for our platforms is far less available. in 2017, venture capital investment reached just over $84 billion. now, that's a height not seen since the dot com bubble of the early 2000s, but practically none of that money went to startups run by people of color. a majority of funds went to college educated white males. white people make up more than 70% of venture capitalists while 25.2% are asian, only 1.7% are black, and just 1.3% are latino. now, in 2016, discrimination and bias in favor of companies run by white men caused the u.s. to lose out on over 1.1 million my norty owned business and forfeit more than 9 million potential job opportunities. so a word of advi

carlos watson shut down ozzie media days after the new york times revealed deception by the co-founderthe today show with a new message. >> we're going to open for business. so we're making news today. this is our lazarus moment. >> why would anyone trust him going forward. >> that's a heart breaking question. i'm used to people trusting me. howie: with investors bailing and one bringing a lawsuit. we made it. and finally, two courageous journalists won the nobel peace prize. maria lesa has revealed corruption. that is battling for a free press under the most harrowing conditions. i'm glad to see them get that kind of recognition. i don't know if journalists ever won the nobel peace prize before. maybe long ago but it's tough to do it in that kind of repress i've. iveenvironment. that's it for this edition of media buzz. howie kurtz. i hope you like our facebook page. let's continue the conversation on twitter. check out my podcast, media buzz meter. we deal with the buzziest stories of the day every day, weekday that is. you can subscribe at apple itunes, google podcast, on your amazo

my loser is carlos watson and the people at oze media.from goldman sachs instead closed down this afternoon because it closed out the digital equivalent of a ponzi scheme. >> mike: all right. harold your thoughts. >> two winners one jimmy carter happy birthday. is he a winner. those who love hip hop we have a great super bowl snoop mike show and dr. dre. my loser is anyone who can't watch sunday night football and watch tom brady go back to england go bucs and go blue. sorry we had technical difficulty with jason. we will get him next time. when we come back, "notable quotables." ♪ . >> mike: well, it's friday and that means "notable quotables." >> we willave a reconciliation bill. that is for sure. >> she has moved from twisting arms to breaking them. i think she is on the edge now of kneecapping people. >> what are you talking about? >> the day is young. i will just keep saying that. that's the theme of the day. >> it's a great day for britney spears. and it's a great day for justice. >> you know me, i'm a bausch optimist. >> grab your

someone that worked in the digital face in buzzfeed and launching that, and the pressure s like carlos watson an anchor, who was behind ozy, do you have sympathy for the pressure that he was under? and the mistakes he made? is that presentable? it is hard after to fathom that someone in that position would make that decision and stick with it for a long time. >> i talked to carlos a couple hours ago. and he is -- you know, feels that he did absolutely nothing wrong. and that everything he said was true. maybe tiny exceptions. but he's totally -- he totally disputes the gist to this reporting. i don't -- i can't really see into his heart. i think the idea that you tell a small lie and a bigger one and a bigger one, and you're trapped is a nightmare for anyone. >> ben smith. i want to know why i didn't get the headband treatment. on cnn, you were wearing a headband. >> have it here. i wasn't sure. you seemed very serious. you know? >> no. this is not a serious show. but not. good to talk to you. i appreciate you coming on. incredible work, as always. i tweeted out that journalism matters as a r

someone who's worked in the digital space with buzzfeed and launching that, and the pressures that carlos watson. do you have any of sympathy for the pressure that he was on, and the mistakes that he made where, those presentable? it's really hard to fathom that someone in that position, without responsibility, would make that decision and then stick with it for that amount of time. >> yeah i should i should say i, to carlos a while ago, he feels that he did absolutely nothing wrong, he everything he said was true. he's totally, totally disputes this just of this reporting. i can't really -- i do think that that idea that you tell a small lie, and then a bigger one, and then your trapped is a real nightmare, for anyone. >> all right, ben smith, i don't know why don't get the hedman treatment, i saw you earlier on cbs cnn, you are wearing a headband. >> i have it here, i just wasn't sure if you are serious. >> no, this is definitely not a serious show, definitely not. good to talk to you, i appreciate you coming on, credible work as always. hashtag, journalism still matters, thank you for bringin