[chrissam]

He probably quit Facebook due to Facebook being constantly defamed in the media - and now the media is reporting on him leaving. It's like that Jake Gyllenhaal movie where he starts off as an ambulance chasing freelance reporter and ends up causing crimes so he can film them.

[jamespitts]

Board members have a different level of culpability than the management at the firms which they help govern, due to the kinds of decisions they are commissioned to make and the information they have access to. Board members may also find themselves misled by management.

As part of the governance process, Walt Mossberg does bear a certain amount of responsibility for what Facebook management has allowed to happen on their network, and I interpret his action here is part of his taking that responsibility.

[CPLX]

He literally is the media.

What’s wrong with the idea that that he observed something, made a decision, and then acted on it? Or is he presumed to have no agency?

[chrissam]

Maybe you're right - maybe Facebook is doing all this bad stuff and Walt Mossberg happened to notice and decided to follow through.

But I'm skeptical - I think the more traditional news media (aka the folks who write stories and collect facts) tends to view news aggregators as a threat to their business model. I think the idea that Facebook ought to be required to screen whatever news it aggregates for "truthfulness" is absurd and I (sometimes) think that the constant refrain of "Facebook did X Bad Thing" is closer to activism than journalism.

But I could be wrong - I'm not as certain as my first post indicated.

[asdff]

I don't think news media outlets are very concerned about social networks anymore; NYT is on literally every app in everyone's pocket, whereas before it was just in the hands of their direct subscribers and sales.