News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson has a bit of an issue with BuzzFeed, it seems, calling it a "strange" and "garish" place filled with "rubbish."
During a Q&A session at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday, the Wrap reported that Thomson, whose company owns long-standing print publications like the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, went off on BuzzFeed for its popular, listicle take on ("so-called") journalism.
"Advertisers will ask themselves, ‘Do I really want to be seen next to that story? It's pretty garish," Thomson said, stating, according to the Wrap, that he planned to invest more funds into quality journalism. "You go on to BuzzFeed and you're in a strange place. It's a really strange place.”
Thomson took specific issue with the over-abundance of numerical lists in recent years that have become BuzzFeed's calling card.
“There is so much rubbish that is passed off as journalism,” he said. "There's a numerical limit to numerical headlines like: '17 Ways to Keep Your Cat Happy.'”
BuzzFeed, which announced major expansion plans after being valued at $850 million this summer, is no stranger to criticism and ridicule. This June the Onion launched ClickHole, a site designed expressly to poke fun at the Buzzfeed's seemingly endless wealth of viral listicle content.
The Huffington Post has reached out to News Corp for additional comment and will update this post if and when a response is received.