Ben Smith, former media columnist at the New York Times and now the editor-in-chief of Semafor, joins Dan to talk about today's ultra-challenging news media landscape. The industry is significantly weaker than it was in 2016, and Trump's aggressive lawsuits have the executives in charge of CBS and ABC scrambling to appease him. Will the death blow for America's free press come from within? Smith runs through what we should have learned from the first Trump presidency, how cults of personality rule in journalism just like they rule in politics, and why the dominance of the Times is terrible for fascism-proofing the country. CHECK OUT THESE DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS ZIPRECRUITER: https://ziprecruiter.com/CROOKED SUNDAYS FOR DOGS: https://www.sundaysfordogs.com/CROOKED Code: CROOKED STAMPS.COM: https://www.stamps.com Code: CROOKED ZOCDOC: https://www.zocdoc.com/CROOKED Want Pod Save America ad-free? Subscribe to Friends of the Pod: http://crooked.com/friends Our book Democracy or Else is out now! Get your copy at https://bit.ly/491j0oc. Profits support Vote Save America and 2024 campaigns. Subscribe to our channel! https://www.youtube.com/crookedmedia?sub_confirmation=1 Photos courtesy of AP Photo Archive Crooked believes that we need a better conversation about politics, culture, and the world around us—one that doesn’t just focus on what’s broken, but what we can do to fix it. At a time when it’s increasingly easy to feel cynical or hopeless, former Obama staffers Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor have created a place where people can have sane conversations that inform, entertain, and inspire action. In 2017 they started Crooked with Pod Save America—a no-bullshit conversation about politics. Since then, we continue to add shows, voices, and opportunities for activism, because it’s up to all of us to do our part to build a better world. That’s it. End of mission. Learn more about Crooked at http://www.crooked.com Follow the pod on Twitter https://twitter.com/podsaveamerica Follow Crooked on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/CrookedMedia/ Follow Crooked on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/