Ben and Marc on New Media: Podcasts, Politics & the Collapse of Trust

a16z Podcast

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2025

⏱️ 98 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of The Ben & Marc Show, a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz sit down with Erik Torenberg— General Partner at a16z and founder of the media company Turpentine—to unpack how the internet shattered the old media order and reshaped the way power works in America. What begins as a look at the evolution of media quickly becomes something bigger: a conversation about truth, trust, and the collapse of institutional authority. They explore how social media became both an x-ray and an engine, why authenticity now beats polish, and how the rules of politics, and journalism, have permanently changed. Together, they break down: -Why 2017 marked a structural break between tech and the press -Trump’s real training ground -The tension between objectivity, activism, and “speaking truth to power” -Why podcasters. not pundits, are setting the agenda -How the barbell strategy is reshaping media: short-form virality meets long-form depth With stops at Watergate, the rise of Rogan, the fall of legacy gatekeepers, and the media playbooks behind Obama, Trump, and the Kardashians—this episode explores how we got here, what’s next, and what it means for founders, voters, and anyone trying to build (or tell) a story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	He's not trained in this business at all. He doesn't follow any of the protocol that you're used to.
0:04.8	He's just so uncomfortably unusual. What he was trained on was he was trained in reality television. I have not been on reality TV, but my understanding is if you're trained in reality TV, like your mission is to create drama. Your mission is to be as interesting as possible. And as contrarotia as possible, right? The other thing he was trained in was professional wrestling.
0:01.9	Both reality TV and professional wrestling grew up together in this sort of new alternate media landscape.
0:06.5	Pseudo-real entered. sales possible, right? The other thing he was trained in was professional wrestling. Both reality TV and professional wrestling grew up together in this sort of new alternate
0:22.8	media landscape.
0:24.0	Pseudo-real entertainment.
0:25.6	Or maybe the most real thing.
0:27.3	Fred Rick Rubin says that these are actually the most real things, not the least real things.
0:30.6	If you think professional wrestling is fake, just wait until you read the newspaper.
0:36.9	In this episode, taken from the Ben and Mark show, Mark Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, and I sit down
0:42.0	to map the evolution of media.
0:44.1	From Craigslist to Rogan, from Watergate to Trump, from centralized institutions to the
0:49.0	rise of internet native politicians and podcasters.
0:52.0	We look at how social platforms disrupted the media model,
0:55.4	how authenticity became the new currency, and what it means to build, leave, and communicate
1:00.4	in a fragmented post-press world. Let's get into it. The content here is for informational
1:07.8	purposes only, should not be taken as legal, business, tax,
1:11.2	or investment advice, or be used to evaluate any investment or security and is not directed
1:16.6	at any investor or potential investors in any A16Z fund. Please note that A16Z and its affiliates
1:23.3	may maintain investments in the companies discussed in this podcast. For more details, including a link
1:28.7	to our investments, please see A16Z.com slash disclosures. Hey, everybody, welcome to The Ben and Mark
1:36.3	Show. I'm Eric Tarnberg, the newest GP at A16Z. And before this, I was investing and also running a
	...

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