The Rise and Fall of Digital Media: With Ben Smith

The Michael Steele Podcast

The Bulwark

Politics, Government, History, News

4.8 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2023

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ben Smith joins The Michael Steele Podcast to discuss his book, "TRAFFIC: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral."The pair discuss the early days of digital media, and the rise and fall of news sites like Buzzfeed News, how controversy drives traffic and virality and Buzzfeed's decision to publish the Steele Dossier.

Check out the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Genius-Rivalry-Delusion-Billion-Dollar/dp/0593299752

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Why is butter so expensive?
0:02.3	Which new shops are opening in my area?
0:04.3	How can I save on energy bills?
0:06.1	From stories about your weekly shop to reports on the economy,
0:12.3	Google helps millions of people across the UK access reliable news from a range of publishers.
0:18.3	So whatever your question is,
0:20.1	it's easy to find quality journalism to help you get the answers.
0:23.8	Learn more at g.co-supportingnews-uk
0:30.0	Buzzfeed News shut down last month.
0:34.3	And vice news just recently announced bankruptcy.
0:37.7	So what's happening out there?
0:40.1	And what does this tell us about the future of digital media?
0:44.5	Well, my guest today on the Michael Still podcast has a few thoughts on that.
0:48.8	Ben Smith is the former media columnist for the New York Times
0:52.8	and founding editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed News.
0:56.4	Before that, he was among the first reporters to adapt the tools of the internet
1:01.3	to political journalism for the New York observer,
1:03.8	the New York Daily News, and of course, Politico.
1:07.0	He is the current founder of Simifor,
1:10.3	a new news organization for this post-social media age of news that we find ourselves.
1:16.9	And he's the author of the new book which we're going to get into, Traffic,
1:21.2	Genius, rivalry, and delusion in the billion dollar race to go viral.
	...

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