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Ben Smith on the Future of News, How to Start a Media Company, and Why TikTok Is a Time Bomb

Plus, Ben and Derek offer a brief history of news media in the 21st century and talk about why in some ways the news business is more like the 19th century than the 20th

By Derek Thompson
GERMANY-LITERATURE-FRANKFURT-BOOK-FAIR Photo by ANDRE PAIN/AFP via Getty Images


About a week ago, a new global news organization launched called Semafor. Ben Smith is its cofounder and editor-in-chief. We offer a brief history of news media in the 21st century and talk about why in some ways the news business is more like the 19th century than the 20th. We discuss what to say to investors when you’re trying to get their money to start a new media company, and debate why TikTok is the biggest undercovered media story in the world.

Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Ben Smith
Producer: Devon Manze

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