Axios, the American site that dictates the media tempo on the war in Iran

Publish scoops, report on discussions, negotiations, work scenarios and not necessarily consolidated information: this is the Axios recipe. A way of “pearling” the news, as they say in the jargon. One of the site’s journalists is particularly in the spotlight: Barak Ravid. The Israeli journalist has half a million subscribers on X.

Three recent examples illustrate the influence of this free site. On March 8, the site revealed the first serious dispute between the Americans and Israelis over the scale of the strikes against Iranian fuel depots. Disagreements have since multiplied. A few days later, the same Barak Ravid understands that the Pentagon is preparing a “final blow” in Iran, which could include troops on the ground: very quickly, the information makes the front page of the international press. On May 6, he announced that the White House believed it was on the verge of a one-page agreement with Tehran. Two weeks later, the two fingers are still there, but the affair will have shaken the planet’s media.

The name of the media, created in 2017, is inspired by the ancient Greek, axios meaning “of value”. The idea is simple: to create media designed for the thumb and the smartphone, with short, hyper-graphic, very rhythmic articles. No editorials, no opinions, no columns, just snippets of information, well pitched, preferably online before everyone else. And it works: Axios now attracts fifty million visitors per month and sets the tone for media coverage of the war in Iran.

Last month, the American markets regulator opened an investigation into massive bets on oil, just before Donald Trump’s announcements on Iran. Were these bets taken because an Axios article was coming up? Was information given to Axios to influence the course and encourage investments? Axios highlights its good faith and professionalism, but parliamentarians are calling for an investigation. Moral of the story: let’s read Axios, but not only that.