Carlos Manuel Maza (born April 9, 1988) is an American journalist and video producer who started the '' Vox'' series ''Strikethrough''. The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' described him as "

Brian Stelter Brian Patrick Stelter (born September 3, 1985) is an American journalist best known as the former chief media correspondent for CNN and host of the CNN program '' Reliable Sources'', roles he held from 2013 to 2022. Stelter is also a former medi ...

meets

NowThis NowThis News is a progressive social media-focused news organization founded in 2012. The company posts short (in most cases 15 seconds long) news videos and hyperpartisan content. History NowThis News was founded by ''Huffington Post'' co-fo ...

Early and personal life

Maza was born on April 9, 1988. His parents were immigrants from Cuba, and he has three younger siblings, a sister and two half-brothers. Maza frequently played

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s as a child, and his mother described him as smart but introverted. Maza attended Christopher Columbus High School in

Westchester, Florida Westchester is a census-designated place (CDP) and neighborhood in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Prior to the 2020 U.S. Census, neighboring University Park CDP was merged into Westchester CDP, effectively doubling its geography and population. Per ...

, where he joined the debate club. According to Maza, the debate club gave him the confidence to speak out and be himself, and he later described it as "the most meaningful thing that's ever happened to me". Maza graduated from

Wake Forest University Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the un ...

in 2010 with a BA in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

. He is a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and a member of the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

Career

Maza worked at

Media Matters for America Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Res ...

from 2011 to 2016, where he was a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

and created a video series on media criticism. At Media Matters, he was also the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

Program Director, focusing on combating what he described as LGBT misinformation and working for LGBT equality. During this time, he created his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

handle, "@gaywonk". He then began working at

Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...

, where he successfully proposed ''Strikethrough'' and began producing and hosting the series. In June 2019,

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

investigated conservative commentator Steven Crowder for repeatedly using racist and homophobic slurs against Maza over the course of multiple years in videos reacting to ''Strikethrough''. Maza said that Crowder's fans have

doxxed Doxing or doxxing is the act of publicly providing personally identifiable information about an individual or organization, usually via the internet. Historically, the term has been used interchangeably to refer to both the aggregation of this in ...

and harassed him as a result of Crowder's videos. Crowder responded that his videos are meant as comedy and that he is opposed to doxxing and harassment. Four days later, YouTube stated that Crowder's language was "hurtful" but did not violate its policies and would not be removed from the site. The decision drew considerable criticism and, on the next day, shortly after revising its policy on hate speech, YouTube decided to suspend Crowder's ability to run ads or monetize his videos until Crowder addressed "all of the issues" with his channel. ''Strikethrough'' was canceled in July 2019, and Maza moved from Vox Media's video team to a new creative role directly under Vox publisher Melissa Bell. In late January 2020, Maza announced that he would leave Vox Media. In February 2020, after leaving Vox, Maza started a media-critique channel on YouTube. In an interview with ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'', Maza voiced his dissatisfaction with

while also stating that he "might as well flood its airwaves with

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

propaganda" by returning to the platform as an independent creator.

References

External links

*
Vox profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maza, Carlos Place of birth missing (living people) 1988 births Living people Activists from Florida American activist journalists American left-wing activists American people of Cuban descent American web producers American YouTubers Florida socialists Gay journalists Journalists from Florida American LGBT journalists LGBT people from Florida LGBT producers American LGBT rights activists Media Matters for America people Members of the Democratic Socialists of America People from Miami-Dade County, Florida Victims of cyberbullying Videographers Vox (website) people Wake Forest University alumni Washington, D.C., socialists 21st-century American LGBT people Competitive debaters