Axios founder angry at NYT for copying Smart Brevity® format.

Get Ready to Be Smart™

Holy crap: Our nation’s esteemed journalists are fighting again.

What happened: Roy Schwartz, cofounder of Axios Media Inc. and CEO of Axios HQ, threw a tantrum Sunday after the New York Times appeared to copy his company’s groundbreaking Smart Brevity® format.

What they’re saying: “🦠 It’s one thing to copy stories without credit. But the @NYTIMES is copying the entire @Axios format!” Schwartz seethed on Twitter, the immigrant-owned social networking website.

• Schwartz posted a screenshot of a Times article about Gov. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) that utilized Axios‘s patented journalistic techniques.
• Smart Brevity® pioneered the use of bullet points and bold font to highlight an important point, as well as letting the reader know “what’s next” or “why it matters.”

What’s next: The Times did not respond to a request for comment on Schwartz’s accusation and whether or not the publication had any plan to pay Axios Media Inc. for its proprietary Smart Brevity® journalistic technology.

Why it matters: Schwartz’s tantrum comes several weeks after Axios cofounder Jim VandeHei drunkenly accosted a Politico journalist at the Swiss ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

• VandeHei was “pissed” at Politico for publishing a “snarky, cynical, and inaccurate” profile that mocked the new-age corporate spirituality he promotes in the “Finish Line” newsletter.
• The Axios boss sounded off on Matt Kaminski, Politico‘s editor in chief. “I put down my drink, put my hand on his shoulder, and told him the column was a ‘piece of shit’ and that he should be ashamed for greenlighting it,” VandeHei wrote in Axios. “We had a spirited chat. I’m pretty sure I ended it by saying: ‘You are dead to me.'”

Be smart: Axios wants its employees to be “selfless superstars” who “choose joy” and embrace a “gratitude attitude.” VandeHei has written extensively in his newsletter about “taming vengeance” and “taming our worst impulses.”

• The cofounders of Axios should try Leading by Example™ if they want their grateful employees to exude such joyful selflessness.

Bottom line: America’s journalists (and new media tycoons) are out of control. Their inability to control their violent emotions is a threat to public safety. They are a menace to society on par with cyclists, Ivy League grad students, and other terrorists.

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Dig deeper: If you want to implement Smart Brevity® in your organization, company, team, division, working group, diversity consultancy, political party, neighborhood, marriage, pickleball league, rehab facility, multilevel marketing venture, religious cult, or anti-racist book club then be sure to visit SmartBrevity.com.