The journalistic independence of the three-year-old news outlet SF Standard is being questioned as a social media debate erupts among billionaire tech investors after a reporter representing the publication contacted sources about a story about VC Ben Horowitz and his wife Felicia.
Standard’s sole backer is another longtime VC, Michael Moritz, and in a Thursday night tirade against the X platform, Horowitz called the “upcoming article” a “cheap smear piece” orchestrated by Moritz and accused Moritz of “fabricating a smear piece against me, his business competitor, in a fake disinformation ‘newspaper.’” Horowitz’s business partner, Marc Andreessen, later intervened, repeating the accusation and hurling a few more insults in the process.
TechCrunch has reached out to Moritz and SF Standard editor Jon Steinberg for comment. Moritz has not yet responded, but in an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Steinberg wrote, “I can confirm that[journalist]Emily Shugerman is writing a piece about Horowitz for the San Francisco Standard. Beyond that, I cannot comment on the content of the piece before it is published.”
The Standard previously covered Horowitz and Andreessen. It also ran news about Moritz. Interestingly, some of the reporting was about thousands of acres of rural land north of San Francisco that tech entrepreneurs and investors, including Moritz and Andreessen, are acquiring.
