BuzzFeed was among the companies that took checks from Facebook, but really built its business on an organic relationship with Facebook. Jonah told the newsroom recently that they had to turn a profit. It could be as little as a dollar, but they shouldn't expect to get subsidized by the larger company. "It's very hard to focus on selling the harder thing to sell," he says.
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 Murdoch's settlement with Dominion and what Ben is working on these days, including his news organization Semafor and his forthcoming book, Traffic.
Since we taped Kara got her blue check (against her wishes!) when Twitter re-verified some accounts over the weekend.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com. And you can follow Kara and Nayeema on Instagram -- yes, Instagram: @karaswisher and @nayeemaraza
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