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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Lloyd Green

Traffic review: Ben Smith on Bannon, BuzzFeed and where it all went wrong

Ben Smith BuzzFeed Benny Johnson Donald Trump Steve Bannon Bernie Sanders Semafor Hillary Clinton Andrew Breitbart Barack Obama
The sun sets over the BuzzFeed office in Los Angeles.
The sun sets over the BuzzFeed office in Los Angeles. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA

Ben Smith is a willing passenger on the rollercoaster also known as the internet. He reported for Politico, was founding editor-in-chief at BuzzFeed News and did a stint as a columnist for the New York Times. Then he co-founded Semafor. Graced with a keen eye and sharp wit, he has seen and heard plenty.

People and businesses crash, burn and sometimes rise again. BuzzFeed News is no more. The New York Times trades 75% higher than five years ago. Tucker Carlson is off the air. Roger Ailes is dead. Twitter ain’t what it used to be.

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