A social media spat between billionaire tech investors is raising questions about the journalistic independence of three-year-old news outfit SF Standard, after a reporter representing the outlet reached out to sources for a story about VC Ben Horowitz and his wife Felicia.
The Standard’s sole backer is another longtime VC, Michael Moritz, and on Thursday night, in a tirade on the X platform, Horowitz called the “coming article” a “cheap hit piece” directed by Moritz and accused Moritz of “having his fake disinformation ‘newspaper’ fabricate hit pieces on his business rival, me.” Horowitz’s business partner, Marc Andreessen, later waded in to echo the accusations and lob a few more insults for good measure.
TechCrunch has reached out to both Moritz and SF Standard Executive Editor Jon Steinberg for comment. Moritz has yet to respond, but in an emailed statement to TechCrunch, Steinberg writes: “I can confirm [reporter] Emily Shugerman is working on a story about the Horowitzes for the San Francisco Standard. Beyond that, I can’t comment on the substance of our piece prior to publication.”
The Standard has previously covered news about Horowitz and Andreessen; it has also published news about Moritz. Interestingly, some of its coverage has been about thousands of acres of rural land north of San Francisco that is being acquired by tech entrepreneurs and investors, including both Moritz and Andreessen.