By Steve KrakauerBen Smith left BuzzFeed earlier this year where he was the editor of the digital publication, and joined the New York Times as their new media columnist. After discussing the business and the media in a BCC Interview a few months ago, Smith joined me for the second edition of The Fourth Watch Podcast. Listen to the interview, subscribe and follow, rate and review if you like it – find it on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Some quotes below:
On BuzzFeed’s success: “If you assume your reader is on the internet, you’re not going to write a story about what happened on the internet yesterday. Which is still most newspaper articles.”
On the power of the New York Times and the current media landscape: “You can either be a huge, huge company or you can be tiny. There is a long tail of individuals who can make a living, but who have no leverage against the platforms because they’re solo operators.”
On “Resistance Journalism” and the Trump Era: “Cable news and news websites are increasingly about getting a really devoted fandom…Trump is the sun in the sky and everything revolves around him.”
On admitting you’re wrong in the media: “Journalists like to say in a slightly chest-beating way that journalism is the first draft of history, with the emphasis on history. I like to put the emphasis on first draft.”