The Fourth Watch Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ben Smith | Steele Dossier and Media's Trump Coverage, Gawker and BuzzFeed's Legacy May 18, 2023

Show notes

Ben Smith, author of "Traffic" and editor of Semafor, joins Steve Krakauer to talk about the end of an era in the digital media with the shuttering of BuzzFeed News and MTV News and bankruptcy of Vice, BuzzFeed's Disney deal sliding doors moment, the Obama era of the digital media vs. how the Trump era changed it, when Huffington Post put Trump news in its "entertainment" section, Smith's 2015 decision to say it's ok to call Trump a "mendacious liar," his decision to publish the Steele dossier in full, whether BuzzFeed should have framed it differently, reaction from Jake Tapper behind-the-scenes, how Trump made smart media members crazy, Gawker's legacy and whether countercultural rebels have become the establishment orthodoxy, how Twitter has changed the media landscape, the process of writing the book, and more. Plus Steve's thoughts on the CNN Trump town hall last week.

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Jacob Siegel | Media Hypocrisy and "Disinformation" Hoaxes May 05, 2023

Show notes

Jacob Siegel, senior editor at Tablet Magazine and author of the brilliant "Guide to Understanding the Hoax of the Century" article about "disinformation" efforts joins Steve Krakauer to talk about getting into journalism and his time in the military, why it was so important to focus on the topic of "disinformation" and the counter-"disinformation" efforts by the media and intel agencies, how 9/11 was a key factor in all of this, class interest above all else, COVID and "disinformation," the usefulness of the January 6 riot in these efforts, the backstory of Graphika and how intel agencies work with the media to spin the public, Tucker Carlson's place in the media environment amid critiques of the "ruling class" and Jacob's connection to Tucker's firing, and more.

Here's Jacob's must-read piece: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/guide-understanding-hoax-century-thirteen-ways-looking-disinformation

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Mary Katharine Ham | Tucker and Lemon, Leaving CNN, Keeping Perspective Apr 27, 2023

Show notes

Mary Katharine Ham, co-host of the Getting Hammered podcast and former contributor to CNN and Fox News, joins Steve Krakauer to discuss Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon getting fired this week, the future of media, Jeffrey Toobin, Jeff Zucker and the old CNN regime, leaving CNN and getting "quiet suspended," the value of talking with people who disagree with us, the screwy incentives and penalties in the media, her prescient book on the left's censorship instincts, fighting "cancel culture" with "cancel culture," how social media broke our brains, the importance of raising children in keeping perspective, how kids are animating our politics today, her news consumption diet, college football and NIL and availability of sports gambling, and more.

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Chris Balfe | Conservative Media, Top Talent Traits, Future of Podcasts Apr 14, 2023

Show notes

Chris Balfe, co-founder of Red Seat Ventures, joins Steve Krakauer to talk CNN Plus' demise one year later, the state of streaming, how TheBlaze launched, the future of conservative media, whether a media behemoth could scoop up a right-leaning entity, perception vs. reality in the ad market, media bias, the future of podcasts, traits that all top talent share, how he got his start in the business as a high schooler, how the media industry is different from others, and more.

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Cyd Zeigler | Media Coverage of Trans Athletes, Twitter Discourse, Fox vs. CNN Mar 24, 2023

Show notes

Cyd Zeigler, founder and editor of Outsports, joins Steve Krakauer to discuss the media coverage of Lia Thomas and trans athletes, fear and activism around the issue, how much the cultural conversation around gay athletes has evolved, why the corporate press remains behind the reality of where gay acceptance in sports is today, Twitter discourse and the state of conversations, Fox News vs. CNN media consumption, and more.

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Brian Stelter | A Special "Uncovered" Conversation, on the State of the Media Feb 24, 2023

Show notes

It's a special edition of the Fourth Watch Podcast today, featuring Brian Stelter, longtime media correspondent and former CNN host, joining Steve Krakauer for a long-form interview, discussion, debate, centered around the state of the media, and Krakauer's new book "Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People," which is available at http://ReadUncovered.com.

Topics include: the biggest media mistakes of the Trump Era, covering the Trump phenomenon, media coverage of John Fetterman, who has real power in D.C., January 6 media coverage and focus on certain elements and not others, Twitter's impact on the media, Hunter Biden laptop story suppression, Stelter's CNN show and what he will do next, Fox News' place in the media ecosystem, Russiagate and the Mueller investigation, comparing how Trump and Obama treated the media, the need to bring new voices into the corporate press, the process of writing and promoting a book, and more.

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Clay Travis | New and Legacy Media, Dealing with Haters, Super Bowl Storylines Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

Clay Travis, founder of Outkick and co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, joins Steve Krakauer to talk about Super Bowl storylines, starting Outkick and bringing it to Fox, legacy media like talk radio, new media entrepreneurialism, Nashville as a media city, dealing with haters on Twitter and beyond, the growth of gambling, straddling the divide between sports and politics, the Steven Crowder vs. Daily Wire fiasco, and more.

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Joe Flint | Flyover Bias, Amazon's Media Strategy, State of Media Reporting Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

Joe Flint, Wall Street Journal media reporter, joins Steve Krakauer to discuss the state of the media industry in 2023, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, News Corp, "flyover bias," the craft of media reporting, "vibes journalism," subscription-based media start-ups, and more.

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Ari Fleischer | Elitism of the Press, CNN's Future, and Trump Coverage to Come Jul 20, 2022

Show notes

Ari Fleischer, former press secretary and author of the new book "Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias," joins Steve Krakauer to discuss the bias and activism in journalism, suppression as form of bias, Fox News' place in the media landscape, how to fix the problems of ideological sameness in the press, elitism in the press and politics, Gavin Newsom and Bernie Sanders, how the country isn't as divided as the media makes it seem, how the media divides us, why the press took Biden to task for the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the future (and past) of CNN, what will happen if (and when) Trump runs for president in 2024, what really happened with the media mistake on Wikileaks and Donald Trump Jr., and more.

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The Media's Incurious UAP (UFO) Coverage - Exploring the Truth with John Greenewald Jun 21, 2022

Show notes

It's a different sort of episode for this Fourth Watch, as John Greenewald, the founder of The Black Vault joins Steve Krakauer to talk about the important issue of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) and the term that is used now, UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) - and the media coverage of the topic. On the importance of transparency, the stigmatized and incurious coverage, government and intel agency coziness with the media, the bombshell December 2017 New York Times and Politico reporting on the topic, the thaw in UAP coverage, was was missing from the early reporting in 2017, the counterintelligence value of the UAP discussion, what the DNI's preliminary assessment on UAPs last year actually tells us, the first public Congressional hearing on the topic in more than 50 years last month, the need to decouple the UAP conversation from one involving "aliens" and "extraterrestrial life," the importance of FOIA, and more. And then at the end we get down to it - John's (and Steve's) theories on what the UAPs might actually be.

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