Editor-in-Chief, Semafor | Author of "Traffic: Genius, Rivalry and Delusions in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral" | Formerly of Politico, Buzzfeed and The New York Times
Book this speaker: Ben Smith
About This Speaker: Ben Smith
Ben Smith is the former Editor-in-Chief at BuzzFeed, and current Media Columnist at the New York Times. He joined the BuzzFeed team in January 2010 and was responsible for overseeing and expanding editorial coverage, and production of original content for the first true social news organization. Ben and his team changed the way people viewed the news. Prior to BuzzFeed, Smith was the senior political writer for POLITICO, where he wrote a daily blog that Time Magazine named one of the “Five Essential Blogs in 2010.”
Currently, Ben is the media columnist at the New York Times. He began his new role in January 2020 when he replaced Jim Rutenberg.
In 2008, Ben covered the Democratic presidential primary, with a focus on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Before POLITICO, he was a columnist and blogger for the New York Daily News. Ben was also behind New York’s first political blog, The Politicker, for the New York Observer. He also started the political site, Room Eight, after working as City Hall Bureau Chief for the New York Sun.
Ben Smith had written for many leading publications including the Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, The New York Post, The New Republic, Legal Affairs, Reason and In These Times.
Ben graduated Summa Cum Laude from Yale University with a degree in LInguistics. A Manhattan native, he now lives in Brooklyn with his wife and three children.
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