Stephen A. Smith

You see this in Substack a lot where the economics of Substack are great when you're small.

You see this in Substack a lot where the economics of Substack are great when you're small.

When you start hiring a bunch of reporters and doing that, you're right back to where you were before, which is it becomes very hard to support it. So how can you do something that is new and stays new? I think we are just like – this is the reason I want to have this conversation with you of all people today is we are just in a fascinating moment in – And politics is media.

When you start hiring a bunch of reporters and doing that, you're right back to where you were before, which is it becomes very hard to support it. So how can you do something that is new and stays new? I think we are just like – this is the reason I want to have this conversation with you of all people today is we are just in a fascinating moment in – And politics is media.

Politics is the war for attention. Politics is the information war. And so these things interact in a way that are just sort of critically important to – and it's just – it's happening so fast.

Politics is the war for attention. Politics is the information war. And so these things interact in a way that are just sort of critically important to – and it's just – it's happening so fast.

Like I used to say that when I left the White House in like 2015, that the period of time from when I went to work for Obama, which was before the iPhone came out, to the time I left when Facebook and Twitter and Snapchat were becoming dominant or – was the fastest period of change in media since the invention of the printing press.

Like I used to say that when I left the White House in like 2015, that the period of time from when I went to work for Obama, which was before the iPhone came out, to the time I left when Facebook and Twitter and Snapchat were becoming dominant or – was the fastest period of change in media since the invention of the printing press.

And I actually think the change from when I left to now is greater than that, I think.

And I actually think the change from when I left to now is greater than that, I think.

Yeah, you were there for this almost very linear story. It felt like this rocket ship, but we could see where it was going. And then at some point, it just exploded. And the whole thing is- It exploded, and new things came.

Yeah, you were there for this almost very linear story. It felt like this rocket ship, but we could see where it was going. And then at some point, it just exploded. And the whole thing is- It exploded, and new things came.

And the power of the legacy media changed dramatically because of technology, because of economics, et cetera.

And the power of the legacy media changed dramatically because of technology, because of economics, et cetera.

Yeah, I think there's a big open question of whether this splintering new right-wing media, like what becomes of it? Does it create its own New York Times or does it just continue to spend its time basically yelling about the New York Times? I think that's a really open question.

Yeah, I think there's a big open question of whether this splintering new right-wing media, like what becomes of it? Does it create its own New York Times or does it just continue to spend its time basically yelling about the New York Times? I think that's a really open question.

Yeah, and some of them are getting quite big, right?

Yeah, and some of them are getting quite big, right?

Yeah, and has it become boring just to be an attack dog for the people in power? To me, that's the most boring and demoralizing form of media, to be an attack dog for power. If you worked really hard to get Donald Trump elected, that's sort of what you've become. And so I think there's going to be a question of who in the media just sticks with loyalty as their brand.

Yeah, and has it become boring just to be an attack dog for the people in power? To me, that's the most boring and demoralizing form of media, to be an attack dog for power. If you worked really hard to get Donald Trump elected, that's sort of what you've become. And so I think there's going to be a question of who in the media just sticks with loyalty as their brand.