Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy used his recently purchased activist stake in BuzzFeed to urge the media outlet to issue an apology for what he referred to as repeated lies, according to a letter shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Ramaswamy purchased a 7.7% stake consisting of 2.7 million shares in BuzzFeed between March 14 and May 21 at costs ranging from $1.47 to $2.51 per share, according to a May Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. Ramaswamy pushed the outlet in the letter to apologize and acknowledge to its audience that it “repeatedly lied on issues of national importance.”
“Against this backdrop, you have a historic opportunity to redefine BuzzFeed and set yourself apart from every other major media organization. Address your audience directly and candidly admit: ‘We failed in our obligation to tell you the truth. By both omission and commission, we repeatedly lied on issues of national importance, and so did the rest of the media. We echoed easy, politically convenient narratives in pursuit of clicks. We failed to fact- check. We ceased being intellectually curious. We lost sight of fairness. We condemned half the country instead of seeking to understand their views and report them fairly,’” the letter reads.
“Now we are taking responsibility for our failures, as a company and as an industry. We apologize. We’re now building a new kind of media company centered on the PURSUIT,” the proposal continued.
Turns out that companies that wax eloquent about “diversity & inclusion” are the ones that are most “monolithic & exclusive” on viewpoint diversity. Any company that reports racial & gender diversity metrics should do the same on their employee political contributions. It’s…
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 27, 2024
Ramaswamy referenced BuzzFeed publishing the Steele Dossier, which is now discredited and accused former President Donald Trump of ties to Russia, and referred to it as “an unvetted, unverified opposition research document that was full of false and salacious information that spawned the wasteful Mueller investigation and divided our country for years.”
He also noted that special counsel Robert Mueller reportedly could not verify BuzzFeed’s report that Trump allegedly told his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie about a construction project in Moscow. Ramaswamy also called out BuzzFeed for reportedly referring to Hunter Biden’s emails as “stolen” in October 2020 without providing legitimate evidence to back up the descriptor.
“The list goes on,” Ramaswamy stated. “The silver lining is that your competitors’ records are equally bad.”
“We’re definitely not going to issue an apology for our Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism,” BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti told Ramaswamy in a letter shared with the DCNF. “That said, I welcome outside perspectives from shareholders and am open to hearing more from you.”
Peretti’s letter noted that Ramaswamy has “some fundamental misunderstandings about the drivers of our business, the values of our audience, and the mission of the company,” and expressed a willingness to meet.
Ramaswamy asserted in the May SEC filing that he feels the company’s shares are “undervalued and represent an attractive investment opportunity,” which Peretti expressed agreement with in his letter.
BuzzFeed has been laying off staff since late 2022 as it has faced obstacles with digital advertising, according to The Associated Press. The company closed down BuzzFeed News in 2023 and it recently reported a loss of $35.7 million in the first quarter of 2024.
Ramaswamy suspended his presidential campaign in January and endorsed Trump as the 2024 Republican nominee.
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