Modern-day conservatism means fighting against the establishment that goes after conservatives and the structures that set up their leftist foundations. Leftist nepo-baby attack dogs, such as Hunterbook Media, are a direct insult to the meritocratic foundations the US claims to be based on.
The deviants behind Hunterbrook Media all fall into that hollow and flat latter category. What co-founders Nathanial Horwitz and Sam Koppelman lack in resume length, however, they make up for in exorbitant family wealth, opportunities, and networks. As we've seen with their recent acquisition of "The Bear Cave" newsletter, they are attempting to takeover the media sphere with money and a false moral equivalency of exposing corruption, while being corrupt themselves as a hedge fund doing investigative reporting.
For those unfamiliar with the somehow-not-illegal hybrid of investment firm/investigative news outlet that is Hunterbrook, before any report breaks, the firm has admitted that its stories trickle down to the desks in its traderoom to act on. At that point, they may as well take pride in the fact that they have direct investments and money dependent on how each of their publications is received instead of trying to bury it.
The kind of nepotism in question with Hunterbrook is not like the case of Peyton Manning passing down legendary athletic genetics to sons Eli and Archie. This isn't even like the numerous stars in Hollywood who gained their fame and footing from successful parents. Those are understandable in theory; it's unsurprising and even common for kids to lean toward their parents' field. But what is completely indefensible is being handed jobs and opportunities in completely unrelated fields, with no relevant experience, based on relationships with friends or family alone.
Companies created by people with no credentials other than the fact that they were born into a wealthy ZIP code are behaving like the Wizard in Emerald City, hiding behind a curtain and pulling levers in the name of good, authentic journalism while actually causing harm to greater society, while only really caring about turning a profit for themselves.
They advertise themselves as too ethical to pay their sources. Okay, at least one speck of integrity within this immoral corporation? Not necessarily, because while that truth stands, so do the profits the firm makes directly because of that information, commonly given at great risk to sources if their identities were ever released.
Honestly, the more we look into companies like this, the inclination to blast Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" grows due to the sheer injustice; it is not only that people like this were handed opportunities of great success and influence in the first place, but what they are actually doing with that immense privilege. Instead of contributing anything to the betterment of mankind, society, or the world itself, co-founders Sam Koppelman and Nathaniel Horwitz short-sell other companies to make themselves and their buddies who helped get them to this level of wealth rich while directly harming the greater population's livelihoods.
What may be even worse, however, is how the two clearly think that not only did they earn the places of success in which they currently sit, but that they are definitively better than, and completely separate from, that pesky nepo baby label. Meeting originally at Harvard University, they were invited to join some of Harvard's notorious and elite "final clubs" but grandiosely declined, remarking that the clubs represent "a microcosm of the socioeconomic and gender inequality."
An inequality the duo knew well, having both grown up in multi–million–dollar homes.
After graduating, they briefly went their separate ways before founding Hunterbrook. Did they spend those in-between years building newsroom experience or learning the ins and outs of Wall Street before committing to the endeavor that is a $100 million hedge fund? No. Instead, they mastered the art of finding half-truths and twisting them to fit whatever narrative their newsroom wants to push.
For years, they have shorted company after company, from TeraWulf to NuScale to CAVA, based on at most one concrete fact, and all benefited the very positions of those in power, or the friends of those in power, at Hunterbrook. They created a case against Hims & Hers Health based solely on plucking select truths from Reddit posts.
The reports are, time and time again, not only wrong, but created with no due diligence behind them at all. If we actually care about the meritocratic ideals this country built its foundation on—allowing a free market to exist and thrive with outside parties manipulating it for personal gain—we cannot allow companies such as Hunterbrook to carry on without notice.
To uphold a greater standard for moral journalism and reporting, it must become a priority to support journalism that discloses its conflicts instead of monetizing them, and not to let founders launder their privilege into a personal brand of hard-earned success. People's retirement funds, their savings, their stock portfolios are being gamed by people who were never playing by the same rules to begin with. Companies like this frankly shouldn't be legal, so at the very least they need to be held accountable.
