A note from Ben Smith: If you're listening to Mixed Signals' coverage of the radical changes to the world of media, I think you'll really enjoy Semafor's newest show, Compound Interest from Semafor Business, that casts a light on how pressure from technology and from Wall Street is radically shifting virtually every business.

On Compound Interest, our brilliant colleagues Liz Hoffman and Rohan Goswami are talking to people at the front lines of those changes — starting with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who used to run a ride-hailing service and now says he's running a platform to be "the operating system for your daily life."

You can listen to Compound Interest from Semafor Business wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it on YouTube.

Former BBC News boss Deborah Turness joins Mixed Signals for her first public interview since resigning amid a controversy over an editorial mishap involving a Donald Trump speech. She talks about whether the BBC is truly impartial, how she handled newsroom blind spots around rising populist movements like the UK's Reform party, and why she believes public media can survive a polarized age. The interview was recorded at Semafor’s Trust In Media summit, which can be watched in full on Semafor’s YouTube channel.

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Former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer join Mixed Signals to talk about their leap from the Situation Room to the podcast studio. They explain why they started The Long Game, what they learned about media while running US foreign policy, and how the war in Ukraine became as much an information battle as a military one. The conversation ranges from Gaza and Al Jazeera to AI-generated propaganda, reactions to the Munich Security Conference, and whether Democrats ever figured out how to explain foreign policy to the American middle class.

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Gus Wenner, chairman of Rolling Stone and son of the magazine’s legendary founder, has spent years balancing the brand’s print heritage with its digital transformation. On this week’s Mixed Signals, Ben and Max talk with Wenner about his new holding company, Wenner Media Ventures, and why he thinks algorithms  disrespect audiences. They also discuss the venture’s investment in the hit video series Track Star, his defense of Rolling Stone’s most provocative journalism, and his potential future media investments.

When now-President Donald Trump decided to put on an apron and serve customers at a McDonald’s drive-thru on the 2024 campaign trail, it put Tariq Hassan, then McDonald’s chief marketer, in a tight spot. On this week’s Mixed Signals, Ben and Max sit down with the former Golden Arches CMO to discuss the Trump episode, why he thinks ad makers should engage with journalists, and what goes into a good celebrity Super Bowl ad.

A year into Hollywood’s heralded vibe shift, as major production companies in the US have increasingly catered to broader or more conservative tastes, a gay Canadian hockey romance was not an obvious choice to become a hit. On this week’s Mixed Signals, Ben and Max bring on Bell Media CEO Sean Cohan to unpack the success of Heated Rivalry and explain how it became an overnight cultural sensation. Cohan also talks about Bell’s strategy of using licensing deals to reach new audiences, the enduring power of a well-told romance, and why Canadian storytelling is only getting started on the global stage.

Stephen Dubner has spent 20 years proving that things aren't what they seem—and now he's not so sure that's always true. The co-creator of Freakonomics and host of one of podcasting's most enduring shows joins Ben and Max to talk about why he never sold to Spotify, how The New York Times shifted from telling readers things to telling them what to think, and his new self-funded TV experiment that's "like laundering podcast money." Along the way, Dubner explains how he accidentally got sucked into the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni gossip vortex (Candace Owens was involved), makes the case for prediction markets over pundits, and reveals why he's now considering buying a pizza place with a Michelin-starred chef who hated his soup. Plus: the real reason insider trading bans are absurd, and why Mario Cuomo was wrong about vowels.

Sarah Rogers, the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy, joins Mixed Signals for a wide-ranging conversation about free speech, tech regulation, and why she’s been rattling the patience of some European governments. Max and Ben press her on confronting Europe over X, the Digital Services Act, and online speech — including accusations that she’s carrying water for Elon Musk and the far right. Rogers traces her worldview back to the early internet, Gawker comment sections, and First Amendment litigation, and explains why she sees today’s speech rules as potentially dangerous.And, don’t miss this week’s bonus episode of Mixed Signals: Max turns the tables on Ben and brings on Semafor CEO Justin Smith to ask the two about their big media news.

Semafor CEO Justin Smith joins Mixed Signals for a candid discussion about why the digital media company raised $30 million late last year, and how it reached profitability in just three years.

Max asks Justin and Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith about the company’s $330 valuation, the company’s planned investment in the Gulf and East Asia, and what it takes to build a modern media company in 2026.

Justin and Ben reflect on lessons from earlier eras of digital media, and the triumphs and mistakes Semafor made in its first three years.

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Media veteran Ryan Lizza joins Mixed Signals for a raw, sprawling conversation about why he chose to publish an eight-part (and counting) Substack series responding to the most personal and public crisis of his career. Max and Ben press him on whether this was ever just a breakup story, why he believes the real scandal involves RFK Jr. and journalistic failures, and how Substack gave him the only viable way to tell the story in the first place. Lizza reflects on leaving Politico, burning bridges with legacy outlets, the cost of going public, and what this episode taught him about our changing media landscape.

Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

For more from Think with Google, check out ThinkwithGoogle.com.

Find us on X: @semaforben, @maxwelltani
If you have a tip or a comment, please email us [email protected]