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The Cult of Self-Belief
I have this theory that we’re approaching the point where someone can create a new media company, raise a $100m through some sort-of vague fraud (a pyramid scheme, probably) involving a colourful cast of bluffers and blaggers, and then, as the company collapses around them, reveal that they have produced an exclusive-access warts’n’all documentary series (and podcast) about the decline and fall of their empire. In our scam-hungry media climate, these properties are easily worth the $100m the company fraudulently raised and thus the pyramid scheme is able to pay itself out. (Editor’s note: if you get accused of running a Ponzi scheme then I do not believe “we can sell the rights to Netflix and pay our investors back” is a legitimate alibi).
The latest product out of the (possible) scam factory is a curious new media venture called OZY, which, for the record, I had never heard of (nor, seemingly, had anyone here in the UK). Ben Smith, the New York Times’ media columnist, has produced a piece about OZY which outlines a series of incidents ranging from bizarre to unethical — an account which the company itself contests. The hook of the story is a conference call with potential investors at Goldman Sachs which apparently involved an OZY high-up using a voice modifier in order to pretend to be a YouTube executive. This is a fabulously daft way to screw up your business (there is no real time voice modifying…
