{"id":1191917,"date":"2022-01-05T19:34:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T00:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1191917"},"modified":"2022-01-05T19:34:38","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T00:34:38","slug":"new-york-times-media-columnist-ben-smith-leaving-outlet-for-global-news-start-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-york-times-media-columnist-ben-smith-leaving-outlet-for-global-news-start-up\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Times Media Columnist Ben Smith Leaving Outlet for Global News Start-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnew-york-times-media-columnist-ben-smith-leaving-outlet-for-global-news-start-up%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1191917&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/ben-smith-dec-11-2018-getty-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\"><em>New York Times<\/em> media columnist Ben Smith is leaving the outlet to create a global news start-up, but it remains uncertain if he plans to&nbsp;divest any controversial stock before working for the new outlet\u2013 an issue that lingered throughout his tenure at the <em>Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The <em>Times<\/em> announced this week that Smith is leaving the outlet and teaming up with Bloomberg Media\u2019s chief executive, Justin Smith, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/01\/04\/business\/ben-smith-new-york-times.html\">create<\/a> what has been described as a \u201cnew global news organization,\u201d where he will serve as the top editor. According to the <em>Times<\/em>, the vision includes a newsroom that will break news and experiment \u201cwith new formats of storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&#8217;m so excited about this <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/471vIOgsqt\">https:\/\/t.co\/471vIOgsqt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ben Smith (@benyt) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/benyt\/status\/1478406711698411524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Nobody should ever be forced to read a verbatim transcript of his own words, but this does include many of them. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gXnF7fQP68\">https:\/\/t.co\/gXnF7fQP68<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ben Smith (@benyt) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/benyt\/status\/1478514724086206469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThere are 200 million people who are college educated, who read in English, but who no one is really treating like an audience, but who talk to each other and talk to us,\u201d Ben Smith said. \u201cThat\u2019s who we see as our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe pressures of social media and polarization have a lot of news organizations talking down to their audience,\u201d he added, deeming the \u201ctalent model for journalism\u201d as \u201cpretty broken.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAudiences feel really connected to the person writing the story or making the video. That\u2019s a challenge for big institutions,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>The transition comes a year after Ben Smith left BuzzFeed, where he worked for eight years, to work for the <em>Times<\/em>. However, he faced controversy over what Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow has described as his\u201dincestuous\u201d relationships with the outlets he covers \u2014 a common theme explored in his <em>New York Times<\/em> bestseller, <em><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Breaking-News-Exposing-Establishment-Corruption\/dp\/1982160748?tag=breitbart035-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Breaking the News: Exposing the Establishment Media\u2019s Hidden Deals and Secret Corruption<\/a><\/em><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Breaking-News-Exposing-Establishment-Corruption\/dp\/1982160748?tag=breitbart035-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Ben Smith <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/17\/business\/media\/ronan-farrow.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">accused<\/a> journalist Ronan Farrow of playing fast-and-loose with his reporting on scandals that occurred at NBC. Farrow had suggested the peacock network had covered up the Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer sex scandals. NBCUniversal happens to be the <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/nbc-raises-eyebrows-over-400-million-relationship-with-buzzfeed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">largest outside investor<\/a> in Buzzfeed, where Smith was previously editor-in- chief. Smith retained stock in BuzzFeed at the time the Farrow piece was published.<\/p>\n<p>It is ironic, though unsurprising, that Smith is the <em>Times\u2019<\/em>media columnist considering he was the first to publish the bogus Trump\/Russia \u201cpee pee\u201d dossier. And that he took issue with Ronan Farrow\u2019s treatment of NBC\u2014one of Smith\u2019s most important patrons\u2014was a particularly brazen move.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Interestingly, Smith failed to disclose his ties to NBC in his regular reporting, but he eventually provided a disclosure in the Farrow column, noting that he does not cover BuzzFeed extensively in the piece because he retained stock options in the company. At the time, he said he agreed to divest the options by the year\u2019s end. Yet, he did not appear to immediately do that.<\/p>\n<p>As Marlow reported:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I reached out to Smith in March of 2021 and asked if he had in fact sold his stock as promised. He directed me to a <em>Times<\/em> column he wrote in January, featuring yet another <a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/10\/business\/media\/capitol-anthime-gionet-buzzfeed-vine.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">disclosure<\/a>: \u201cI don\u2019t cover BuzzFeed extensively in this column, beyond leaning on what I learned during my time there, and The<em> Times<\/em> has required that I not do so until I divest my stock options in the company.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I asked him why he delayed selling off his shares. He didn\u2019t offer a response and suggested I reach out the <em>Times\u2019<\/em> corporate communications for more information. I did. They did not respond.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>On Wednesday, Breitbart News reached out to Smith again, inquiring if he planned to divest any stock before working in this new start-up company, in light of his announcement. We did not receive a response.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the&nbsp;NBC News, the&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>, and the \u201cincestuous\u201d relationships between media companies and personalities in <em><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Breaking-News-Exposing-Establishment-Corruption\/dp\/1982160748?tag=breitbart035-20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">Breaking the News<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York Times media columnist Ben Smith is leaving the outlet to create a global news start-up, but it remains uncertain if he plans to\u00a0divest any controversial stock before working &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1191917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1191917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1191917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1191917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1191917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}