Simon Owens

@simonowens

Tech and media journalist. Email me: [email protected]. Full bio in link below.

Washington, DC

Joined September 2008

801Following

8KFollowers

Pinned

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 24

YouTube's food content is not only used by millions of home cooks, but it's also training the next generation of professional chefs. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

simonowens's tweet card. In kitchens around the world, chefs are turning to YouTube to learn new skills and establish their culinary reputations.

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Simon Owens Retweeted

Karina Hillestad@inahill · 17 h

a way to identify the highest quality content published by Medium’s writers and get it in front of the platform’s users, and the only way to do that, in his view, was to insert more humans into the curation process. by @simonowens open.substack.com/pub/simonowens…

Simon Owens@simonowens · 24 h

Want some good weekend reading? I compiled the best longform journalism I consumed this week. I guarantee you there's something on this list you'll enjoy. thelongstory.substack.com/p/the-best-lon…

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 25

This is hard to read. No other organization devotes as many resources as Media Matters to monitoring the vast right wing media ecosystem that gave rise to the MAGA movement, and yet it's on the brink of shutting down. nytimes.com/2025/07/25/us/…

simonowens's tweet card. Scrambling to pay legal fees, Media Matters has dialed back its criticism, trimmed its staff and contemplated closing entirely.

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 25

McDonald's used to be considered recession proof, since it could offer cheap meals to cash-strapped families, but in recent years inflation has cut into its ability to offer discount products like the dollar menu. wsj.com/business/mcdon…

simonowens's tweet card. The Golden Arches aren’t so golden for deal seekers these days. The nation’s biggest fast-food chain is facing its toughest fight in years to convince Americans of its value bona fides.

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 25

When Ev Williams stepped down from the role of CEO of Medium in 2022, the company was losing $2.6 million a month and experiencing a net decrease in paid subscribers. simonowens.substack.com/p/how-medium-f…

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 24

The Free Press is increasingly becoming an odd fit within Substack's ecosystem. Not only does it have its own custom website design -- that looks far different from every other Substack publication -- but now it has its own separate app. pugpig.com/2025/07/21/the…

simonowens's tweet card. The Free Press launches mobile app on Pugpig Bolt, packed with rich features designed to enhance personalisation and drive user engagement.

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 24

This is a pretty interesting deep dive into why newspapers owned by Advance Local punch far above their weight in terms of online traffic. The company kind of floats below the radar despite owning a lot of newspapers because it's privately held. niemanlab.org/2025/07/how-di…

simonowens's tweet card. They share an owner that sometimes gets forgotten — but which dominates much larger peers in web traffic. Here's our first monthly ranking of the top 25 local newspaper websites in the United States.

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 24

Newsweek has degraded its brand with clickbait content to such a degree that it's pretty laughable that it thinks it can generate meaningful subscription revenue. digiday.com/media/to-beat-…

simonowens's tweet card. AI hasn’t dented Newsweek traffic. But it’s aiming to cut its reliance on digital ads from 63% to 55% of revenue next year.

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 23

A few decades from now, we may look at GLP 1 drugs in the same way we view the discovery of antibiotics or the development of modern day vaccines -- as an innovation that changed the course of humanity for the better. derekthompson.org/p/why-does-it-…

simonowens's tweet card. Studies show that the obesity and diabetes medication also reduces heart attacks, cancer risk, migraines, and memory loss. How is that even possible? And at what point should we all be on it?

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 23

One of the most popular podcasters got his start interviewing military veterans about their trauma, but he's recently branched out into all sorts of conspiratorial obsessions, including UFOs. motherjones.com/politics/2025/…

simonowens's tweet card. How MAGA's favorite military influencer weaponizes vulnerability.

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 22

If an independent podcaster with no media conglomerate backing him can generate $20 million a year, then I'm pretty sure Paramount could plug the $40 million hole and get Stephen Colbert's late night show profitable. nytimes.com/2025/07/22/bus…

simonowens's tweet card. Joe Budden, a former rapper who now oversees a robust podcast network, gave a rare look into the finances of the industry.

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 22

I'm having flashbacks to 2011 when AOL lit $300 million on fire by buying the Huffington Post. ft.com/content/0f1ce3…

simonowens's tweet card. ‘Anti-woke’ journalist holds talks with incoming CBS owner David Ellison over sale of new media venture

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 22

Colbert’s show has generated over 10 billion views on YouTube and billions more on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The reason Paramount is losing $40 million a year on his show has everything to do with it not effectively monetizing these channels.

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 22

I think this guy deserves a lot of credit for pioneering how legacy news outlets can operate on TikTok. nytimes.com/2025/07/22/bus…

simonowens's tweet card. Dave Jorgenson is starting his own video company that explains the news, with a twist. Think Jon Stewart meets Ron Burgundy.

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 22

It's kind of strange that the website that most resembles the old school internet forums has become one of the biggest platform success stories in the last few years. nymag.com/intelligencer/…

simonowens's tweet card. “The front page of the web” is turning into the last refuge of the human internet. But can it survive AI?

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 22

While so much of the AI-generated video we see on the internet can be dismissed as "slop," there's a growing group of filmmakers attempting to leverage the technology to produce something closer to real art. nytimes.com/2025/07/18/tec…

simonowens's tweet card. The Dor Brothers are indie filmmakers whose viral videos are generated entirely by artificial intelligence.

Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 21

For most of his 20s and 30s, Pedro Pascal struggled to get by with bit parts in TV shows and films, and it wasn't until his 40s when he started to land the meaty roles that transformed him into a star. vanityfair.com/hollywood/stor…

simonowens's tweet card. At 50, Pedro Pascal has made his way to the top of every director’s wish list while also becoming a sex symbol. A funny, sad, honest talk with a star unlike any other.

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 21

Elon Musk may go down as one of the dumbest leaders in business history. bloomberg.com/news/features/…

simonowens's tweet card. Tesla, SpaceX and xAI are struggling to deal with the fallout from Musk’s Trump feud and wild bets.

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Simon Owens@simonowens · Jul 21

Maybe I'm naïve, but I actually think screenwriters are the last people in Hollywood who should be worried about AI. It's much more likely to impact the production side of a TV show or film than the actual script itself. latimes.com/entertainment-…

simonowens's tweet card. As AI creeps further into Hollywood, screenwriters like Billy Ray, Paul Schrader, Bong Joon Ho and Todd Haynes, along with a new class of tech disruptors, are navigating the uncertain future of...

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