Mixed Signals from Semafor Media

Updated: 19 Sep 2025 • 64 episodes
www.semafor.com/mixed-signals

Every Friday media reporter Max Tani and Semafor Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith pull back the curtain on the most important stories about media, revealing why you see and hear what you see and hear. Mixed Signals from Semafor Media is supported by Think with Google.

Show episodes

Max Tani + Ben Smith & Malcolm Gladwell 19 Sep 2025 • EN

Malcolm Gladwell’s theories on podcasting, America, and Joe Rogan

Malcolm Gladwell is a man of many theories – he’s made a career of it through his books and podcasts through Pushkin Industries. This week, Ben and Max bring on the author and Revisionist History host to get his current theories about the state of podcasting, how that industry can extend your career, and why he’s betti

54 min
00:00
54:02
No file found

This week, a special episode featuring Josh Spanier, VP of marketing at Google, who you might recognize from our branded segments. In this sponsored episode, Ben asks Josh about how Google thinks about advertising, how he’s navigated the technological changes in that space, and if AI is going to homogenize all of the a

37 min
00:00
37:43
No file found

The Financial Times is the paper for business and world leaders, and comes with a hefty subscription price of $45/month. But what does it mean to serve the elite in a growing age of populism, and what are the consequences of high quality journalism only being available to the 1%? This week, Ben and Max bring on the edi

43 min
00:00
43:35
No file found
Ben Smith + Max Tani & Thomas Chatterton Williams 29 Aug 2025 • EN

How media drove America crazy, with Thomas Chatterton Williams

Five years since the start of the pandemic and the racial reckoning post-George Floyd, we’re still seeing the effects that 2020 had on culture and politics. This week, Ben and Max bring on The Atlantic staff writer, Thomas Chatterton Williams, to talk about how we can trace Donald Trump’s re-election to that summer, th

46 min
00:00
46:10
No file found

After his dramatic breakup with CNN and failed partnership with Elon Musk’s X, Don Lemon now has almost 800,000 subscribers on YouTube. This week, Ben and Max bring on the broadcaster-turned-streamer to discuss what he’s learned in the transition to new media, the latest on his legal battle with Musk, and if there’s a

39 min
00:00
39:54
No file found

Mark Cuban is everywhere – and famously accessible. But what might be called overexposure in a previous era is now a strength in a fragmented media world, to the point that many people want him to run for president in 2028. This week, Ben and Max bring on the former Shark Tank “shark” and former majority-owner of the D

46 min
00:00
46:50
No file found