Veteran Israeli Investigative Journalist Guy Mego Leaves Journalism

Guy Mego, a prominent investigative journalist at TheMarker, announced his departure from the profession after 12 years, citing a disillusionment with the changing media landscape and the diminishing role of facts.

Mego described his career as "exciting and cool, and sometimes scary," recounting battles with powerful individuals, lawsuits, being spied on, and pursuing leads. He acknowledged the "great disgust" that grew over time, making it difficult to continue. He spoke of crawling through "mud" to gain sources, sifting through documents, using disguises, and encountering both good and "repulsive" people, with a mix of successes and failures. "I am proud of the overall result," he stated, adding that while often driven, there were times he felt like he was "fighting windmills."

He entered journalism during its "decline," but in his early years, facts were sufficient to launch investigations, lead to indictments, prevent appointments, or thwart bad decisions. "I can only miss it," he wrote, lamenting that "Israeli society has become sick, human society has become sick, social networks have poisoned the information environment beyond any measure I could have imagined." Mego expressed dismay at a world where "there is no real competition between verified facts and absolute fabrications," observing how "traffic dictates journalism, and hatred and poison dictate traffic, and between that and the facts there is nothing left."

Mego now plans to develop a venture focused on transforming data about the spread of lies and "poison" online into commercially valuable information. While the product is not yet finalized, his stated mission is to "try to change the incentive to spread lies."

His announcement drew reactions from colleagues, including Raviv Drucker, who called Mego "one of the best investigative reporters in Israel," praising his intelligence, bravery, and independence. Drucker lamented his departure, stating, "We need you. It's important for me to add - Guy Mego is one of the best investigative reporters in Israel. Not only a serious and smart writer, but brave, almost to a worrying degree, truly doesn't care about anyone." Omri Maniv also commented, calling Mego "one of the best journalists here, one of the very few with the ability to produce such investigations. A great shame and much success."