Axios flew to Davos -- and blew off Javier Milei
The liberal news website didn't cover the scholarly 'pro-freedom' speech Argentina's libertarian president gave to the elite socialists at the WEF. So I complained to Axios boss Mike Allen.
Axios is an American news website based in Arlington, Virginia, that was founded in 2016 by former Politico journalists Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Roy Schwartz.
It has 500 employees and fancies itself as a fair and honest purveyor of news, but it is as liberal and biased as most NY-DC news organizations.
Because the Axios team that went to Davos this week to cover the World Economic Forum's annual meeting did not even mention the newsy speech by Argentina's new libertarian/conservative president Javier Milei, I sent this snarky but heartfelt email to Axios co-founder/reporter Mike Allen:
Hi Mike --
I know you were working hard in Davos last week.
But did you hear that on Wednesday Javier Milei of Argentina gave a speech to the WEF? He stuck it to them for their statist inclinations and enthusiastically stuck up for the old-fashioned American values of individual liberty, limited government and free markets.
In case you missed Milei's speech in person, here it is -- ---
https://twitter.com/i/status/1747868626948907325
Please listen to it -- it's a cool/scary AI version that renders his speech in English, with a Spanish accent and synchronized mouth movements. Axios readers might be interested in the spooky AI angle alone.
I'm just an ex-newspaperman, but it seems to me Milei's speech on Wednesday was a rare, dare I say, globally newsy event.
Libertarians like me liked hearing the tough rhetoric of freedom from the newly elected leader of a formerly great nation that's been wrecked by a hundred years of socialist stupidity and authoritarian politicians.
I bet a few Axios readers might have been interested, too.
A few Axios readers also might appreciate that from now on you and your hard-working staff might do a little reading and learn the important differences between conservatives, right-wingers and libertarians.
There are also many nuances -- none of which Axios understands or likes, or it would never have made the embarrassing mistake of 'forgetting' Milei's speech or misrepresenting him as a conservative or a right-winger.
As far I can determine by searching Axios' site, you and your hard-working team have not mentioned Milei's name this week.
Maybe you'll catch up to the rest of the news sources who covered Milei's appearance. (Here's another news angle: He and his staff flew to Davos on a commercial plane, not a private jet.)
As an observant libertarian, pun intended, I might be excused for suspecting that Axios deliberately avoided covering Milei.
Maybe missing Milei's speech was just an oversight in a busy week.
But a 'Milei' search of Axios' site shows me that apparently the last time you guys wrote anything about Milei was when he was elected:
"Politics & Policy Nov 20, 2023 Javier Milei's election in Argentina electrifies U.S. conservatives https://www.axios.com/.../argentina-javier-milei-election...
And the day before that your headline writer branded him "a far-right libertarian," a new term that echoed the way many other equally clueless liberal media places described Milei.
"World Nov 19, 2023 Far-right libertarian Javier Milei wins Argentina's presidential election
What you probably should do to wash away your mortal sin of omission -- in addition to expanding your ideological diversity by hiring someone who is a practicing libertarian or at least knows what a libertarian is -- is to fly down to beautiful Argentina one of these slow weeks.
Check out the scene, do some deep, fair-and-balanced reporting, provide perspective, interview Milei and his friends and enemies. Maybe even read a Milton Friedman or Hayek book on the flight.
I believe the term for that kind of hard work used to be called 'journalism.' Axios ought to try practicing it a little more fairly and fully.
You also ought to work a little harder to keep the promise you make to readers somewhere in your"Mission & Manifesto" -- that "We will always cover the topics of greatest consequence with clinical, critical and balanced eyes."
Have fun in Argentina. It's summer there, I think.
Bill Steigerwald
Milei in the Media
This Google search shows how Axios and others have referred to Milei in their headlines — the most recent Axios reference was Nov. 20 after he was elected:
About 25 results (0.91 seconds)
Javier Milei Argentina's new right-wing economist president
Argentina elects far-right libertarian Javier Milei as president
Javier Milei leads Argentina's polls ahead of Sunday election
SHAPIRO: Why the media despise Javier Milei | Opinion | daily-journal.com
Yikes! Javier Milei, the radical far-right populist, elected President of Argentina