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That's macwellden.com. That's macwellden.com promo code recode. This is Recode Media with Peter Kafka. That's me. It's powered by digital media. That is a real company. The funny name. I am here with Ken Kerson, who is the editor-in-chief of the New York Observer. Welcome, Ken. Peter, thank you for having me on your podcast. Thanks for coming. I reached out to you because I've known you for a while. I think you are the only person I know who has supported and probably voted for Donald Trump. And I think we're supposed to reach out across party lines and find people who are not like us and talk to them.

I did vote for Donald Trump. I didn't want to presuppose, but I'm assuming since you work for Jared Kushner, who's his son-in-law, I've seen pictures of you on social media that indicate that you support Trump. I mean, you were at the box at the RNC. So all signs pointed to that, but I didn't want to presuppose. So thanks for coming on. We were in strange days. Donald Trump hours ago, just visited the New York Times and held what was basically sort of a one-company press conference. Did you watch that? Or I guess watch the tweets that came out of that? I saw that it was on and then off and then on again. I haven't, I've been in a meeting before coming here, so I didn't see the results of it. but I imagine it would have been very fun to be a fly on the wall of that room.

So you've got other work to do. You can't just enjoy the spectacle. I'm afraid I do. So let's talk about your job. So you edit the observer. You've done that since when? Since January 2013. So I'm just finishing up four years. And there was a long string. So Jared Kushner bought it a few years earlier. There were a long string of editors that came after he bought the paper, and then he brought in you. That's right. There was a lot of sport made that I was the sixth editor in the seven years that Jared had owned it at the time I became editor. But now I am the second longest serving editor after the legendary Peter Kaplan,

who was editor for 15 years. He's a very legendary editor now deceased. People mourn him. I think a lot

people say that sort of the paper died with him. We could talk about that. But talk about how

you came to the paper. How did Jared Kushster find you? Did you know him? I did know Jared. Jared's

been a close personal friend. I'm a friend Did you know him? I did know Jared. Jared's been a close

personal friend. I'm a friend of his entire family, his father, Charlie, is my good friend since I think

about 2000 or 2001. So by the time Jared hired me to run the observer in 2013, I knew the whole

family well for many years.

And he was, I think you bought it when he was 25, right?

So it was a few years after that.

And what was his pitch to you?

I was in politics at that point.

I was making TV commercials for candidates and some corporate work, too, but mostly

for candidates.

He didn't work for Rudy Giuliani.

Yeah.

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