{
  "id": 1491896,
  "title": "It’s about ethics in journalism, with Ben Smith",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/its-about-ethics-in-journalism-with-ben-smith",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-17T14:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Verge",
    "slug": "the-verge",
    "url": "https://www.theverge.com/podcast/980759/ben-smith-semafor-ethics-journalism-ai-events-buzzfeed-media-news"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Ben Smith, the editor-in-chief of Semafor, joins the Decoder podcast to discuss the state of journalism and the challenges of navigating ethical conflicts. Semafor, a relatively new news organization, was founded by Smith in 2022 with the goal of reaching 200 million college-educated readers. The company has evolved into an \"anti-scale\" business, focusing on convening and providing quality journalism. Smith speaks about the decline of legacy news brands and the rise of alternative media platforms, emphasizing the need for high-quality insight and alternatives to the crowded digital media landscape.",
  "summary": "Today I’m talking to Ben Smith, the editor-in-chief of Semafor. Everywhere you go, people say they don’t trust the media — and yet they’ve never consumed more of it. Audiences have moved on from legacy names in favor of Substacks and podcasts and TikTok news influencers that seem to be everywhere in our feeds. Why […]",
  "key_points": [
    "Ben Smith is Semafor's editor-in-chief.",
    "Semafor aims to reach 200 million college-educated readers.",
    "Smith discusses ethics in journalism and legacy news decline."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}