New York Times journalist Ben Smith discusses his bombshell investigation into U.S. media organization Ozy Media and its defiant founder, Carlos Watson.
Yesterday
Is the U.S. a gerontocracy?
The United States is getting older, and so, increasingly, are the people charged with governing it.The average age of a U.S. senator is 64-years-old and in the House it's 58, according to 2025 numbers. Dozens of elected officials are in their 70s and 80s. Presidents Joe Biden and ... Show More
27m 17s
Sep 24
B.C. Conservative implosion sparks snap election
On Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby called a snap election, two years into his term. He said the province needs to show a strong response to American aggression. This was just two days after the leader of the Opposition, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, resigned, following a tumultuous four m ... Show More
25m 59s
Sep 23
Why Russia has Europe on edge
Earlier this week, Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won a record number of seats in the country's parliamentary elections. Putin is expected to frame the result as an endorsement of his war with Ukraine. And, according to Ukrainian intelligence, he may mobilize hundreds of th ... Show More
26m 14s
Oct 2021
Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson, On the Record
<p>Ozy Media CEO Carlos Watson speaks out, addressing numerous reports of mistruths that have led to his company’s demise. Confronted with misleading claims in his own company’s pitch deck and a review of texting exchanges between himself and Andrew Ross Sorkin, Watson defends th ... Show More
33m 39s
Feb 2025
How the Right Took Over the Media
Ben Smith, former media columnist at the New York Times and now the editor-in-chief of Semafor, joins Dan to talk about today's ultra-challenging news media landscape. The industry is significantly weaker than it was in 2016, and Trump's aggressive lawsuits have the executives in ... Show More
1h 8m
Apr 2023
Ben Smith on the Turmoil at Buzzfeed, Fox News and Everything In Between
To make sense of a turbulent and important week in media, we turn to Ben Smith who was the founding Editor in Chief of Buzzfeed News (2012 to 2020) and the former New York Times media critic (from 2020 to 2022). On the agenda: the shuttering of Buzzfeed News, the meaning of Murdo ... Show More
1h 4m
Sep 2024
Not an Internet Error: How 404 Media Aims to Shake Up Online Journalism
<p>Last summer, OTM host Micah Loewenger <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/rise-worker-owned-journalism-on-the-media">reported a piece</a> about the rise of worker-owned newsrooms: Hell Gate, a local New York publication, and Defector, a national outlet f ... Show More
20m 14s
Apr 2023
Ben Smith on the Bust of the Digital Media Age
The media world over the last few week has been rocked by major disruptions: Fox ousts Tucker Carlson, CNN fires Don Lemon, BuzzFeed News is shutting down, Twitter has become a less reliable resource, and Vice Media shutters its flagship program “Vice News Tonight.” Over the last ... Show More
35m 5s
<p>In this episode, Eli examines the end of the new media boom of the 2010s. His guest is Ben Smith, co-founder of Semafor and the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Traffic-Genius-Rivalry-Delusion-Billion-Dollar/dp/0593299752">Traffic</a>.</p><p><br></p><p>Time Stamps: </ ... Show More
