Ben Smith

Bill Nguyen is paying (in tokens) to live in the AI future www.semafor.com/article/04/2...

A fun hint for fans of @praddenkeefe's Winds of Change pod: It had a big CIA audience (!) after it came out, but he can't say what he's learned since. (At 16:10 here) youtu.be/t2oTgAmHXJk

Excellent pod on Mamdani's first 100 days overcast.fm/+ABTqPlOk6JQ

Loved talking shop with @semaforben.bsky.social and @maxtani.bsky.social! Surreal to finally meet two people whose voices I’ve logged so many hours with.

(Semafor) - The New York Times and Washington Post learned of a secret US raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin Friday night — but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops .. @semafor.com www.semafor.com/article/01/0...

In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites. He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

Honoured that "Our Dear Friends in Moscow" was recommended this week by @semafor.com Editor-in-Chief @semaforben.bsky.social — thank you!

Good conversation — Thanks, @semaforben.bsky.social @maxtani.bsky.social youtube.com/watch?v=uZvq...

At our media summit, I asked @BrendanCarrFCC about the l view that the greatest threat to free speech is him -- the government. He disagreed and said it was the social media companies. At 5:30 here www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB64...

Big job for an ambitious editor job-boards.greenhouse.io/semafor/jobs...

SCOOP: A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers, raising questions about ethics in the independent media space

"Oh, it's the worst industry in the history of industries." @mcuban.bsky.social tells @maxtani.bsky.social and @semaforben.bsky.social how he views the current media landscape, and why he doesn't invest much in the space these days.

Pretty remarkable: The New York Post and others are currently running with a document from the (strange and fascinating) Durham Annex that the Durham Annex (a few pages later) says is a Russian fake, all in the broader interest of debunking "Russiagate" nypost.com/2025/07/31/u...

I do treasure this letter Tom Lehrer, who just died 60 years after he vanished from the stage, sent me when I tried to write about him www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/tom...

New: Palantir's CTO and several early employees are raising money to launch Founders Films, a film and TV production studio that aims to "say yes to projects about American exceptionalism, name America’s enemies, back artists unconditionally, take risk on novel IP.” www.semafor.com/article/07/2...

An NYC status update

The panicky elites dumping millions into last-minute attack ads against @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social should have been investing time and money to recruit, educate, and encourage young leaders. My latest in @nymag.com

A big story of this moment www.semafor.com/article/06/1...

Great point from @semaforben.bsky.social about how - when the news goes crazy - your most senior sources are just scratching their heads, like the rest of us. I remember it from the Brexit wars - cabinet ministers were happy to chat because no one had a clue what would happen.

The most plugged-in people in Washington are reading the same tweets you are, @semaforben.bsky.social‬ writes.

Knives out for Musk allies www.semafor.com/article/06/0...

.@maxwelltani scoop: CA State Senators @SenJoshBecker & @SenatorUmberg are opening an inquiry into Paramount's talks with Trump, and inviting Bill Owens and Wendy McMahon to testify www.semafor.com/article/05/3...

Reality continuing to disintegrate around the edges per @daveweigel.bsky.social @kadiagoba.bsky.social www.semafor.com/article/05/2...

Scoop: The top contributor to X's Community Notes is a security startup that set up an automated process to flag crypto scam tweets. It's posted 52,000 times! Read the remarkable details from @mantzarlis.com on @indicator.media: indicator.media/p/the-top-co...

🟡 NEW: Inside the identity crisis in anti-woke media www.semafor.com/article/05/2...

that's right

"I spoke with a few congressional staffers who said that they had tried using Bluesky as an alternative to Twitter after Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk, but they gave up after their bosses kept getting yelled at by Democratic users angry at their impotence" www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...

Fascinating @semaforben.bsky.social piece on the Silicon Valley-led group chats that have shaped a lot of tech and political discourse over the past few years - and continue to. www.semafor.com/article/04/2...

I spoke with @semaforben.bsky.social about his big @semafor.com piece on Silicon Valley's group chats for the Techmeme Ride Home podcast today. Episode dropping around noon eastern. youtu.be/Stn7MnUlZQE

Loved chatting with @semaforben.bsky.social about our favorite topic—all things media! #semafor #meghanmarkle podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/z...

Re the latest Pentagon purge, there was certainly some anonymous and specific national security grousing about cost and purpose of Yemen attack. t.co/k1hkz0LdHE

This is a fascinating interview, on Semafor's podcast. Listening to Ben is fun.

NEW: At a recent private meeting, US state department officials challenged regulator Ofcom over the impact of new UK online safety laws on free speech. www.theguardian.com/media/2025/a...

Trying to work out if I'm offended by the @semaforben.bsky.social's conversation with Piers Morgan about coverage of Gaza or not.

2024 has been declared "the year of the @maxtani.bsky.social scoop www.linkedin.com/pulse/year-m...

The New York Editorial Board is doing interviews with potential mayoral candidates. Here’s the first one with @bradlander.bsky.social nyeditorialboard.substack.com/p/brad-lande...

Comptroller @bradlander.bsky.social in the inaugural NY Editorial Board interview nyeditorialboard.substack.com/p/brad-lande...

Today, the newly-formed New York Editorial Board kicked off interviews with the 2025 mayoral candidates. Thank you, @bradlander.bsky.social , for joining us for breakfast. Stay tuned for details from our conversation with the current @nyccomptroller.bsky.social ! 1/2

Not a lot of newspaper writers left where you can read a story and guess the byline. @EllenBarryNYT just never misses www.nytimes.com/2024/12/09/h...

Been a while since I stumbled out of bed on a Sunday and put on Al Jazeera. Extraordinary broadcast this AM.

Kash Patel reasonably likely to get confirmed, @burgessev reports www.semafor.com/article/12/0...

I read Kash Patel's memoir to get a sense of how he'd run the FBI:

👀

Trump campaigm looked into influence allegations www.semafor.com/article/11/2...

Lovely @thedialmag.bsky.social www.thedial.world/articles/new...

Ok ok, I'm here, apparently the Brits are a leading indicator these days. Brexit etc.

Really struggling to convince @semaforben.bsky.social that the Brits are all here now but the good thing I can just copy/paste his media scoops and he can't shout at me. (Can't buy the Spectator because it was sold to man who already had a Modern Take On The Spectator? Then make ANOTHER Spectator!)

If you want to get to know Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk's co-chair of government efficiency, start with this interview w/ @semaforben.bsky.social and @nayeema.bsky.social. Feat. his "thesis for how broken and in some cases idiotic, like downright low IQ the media really is" www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_C2...