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And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN, the Axviles with your host, David Axelrod.

Before I talk about my guest, a little bit of news for you, a little bit of Axviles news.

We've been nominated for two Webby Awards for Best Show and God Bless Them, Best Host.

And if you want to vote on this, you can go to Webby Awards.com and register your opinion.

And it's kind of important, actually, because they're going to determine the winners based on the votes.

So if you like what we're doing here, take a minute and go to Webby Awards.com and let them know.

So now, my guest, Ben Smith, I met Ben in Iowa back in 2007 when he was working for Politico.

And he wrote a blog there on politics and was covering the campaign.

Sometimes it had a little edge to it that pissed me off.

But oftentimes I was impressed by how insightful he was.

And he came to some conclusions before many others about what was going on in 2007 that showed real wisdom and insight into our political process.

And then he went on to become one of the major domos at Buzzfeed where he manages their news operation.

I got to talk to Ben the other day, he came by the University by the Institute of Politics.

I got to talk to him about the state of our politics, the state of news and the era of Trump, Buzzfeed, and the new media environment.

Ben Smith, welcome.

When you and I first encountered each other a decade or so ago, maybe longer, you were just a reporter, dog, and a man.

And then he was talking to me and asking provocative questions.

And now you're like an empire.

So congratulations on that.

Thanks. I come to think of it, I never got the sense I was your favorite reporter.

You know what, it's not necessarily. As an old journalist, I'm not sure that you should aspire to be anybody's favorite reporter anyway.

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