Channels with Peter Kafka

Harvard Law School professor Susan Crawford talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about her new book, Fiber: The Coming Tech Revolution—and Why America Might Miss It. In this episode: (01:22) Crawford's book and the state of fiber internet in America; (05:39) Why fiber is like electricity; (11:19) Why isn't fiber everywhere already?; (16:01) The failure of Google Fiber and how someone could bring fiber everywhere; (20:07) Politics and 5G; (23:32) Tech giants and net neutrality; (27:11) The political will to get fiber into homes; (30:21) What cities in the US are doing fiber right? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

‘It took us a while to figure out what our real value is to the universe’ - Neil Vogel, CEO of Dot Dash, talks about - ‘About.com’, and the challenges of turning around an internet property in decline. Also: building brands with real value to consumers, and how Vogel built up the Webby Awards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

"A real life Black Mirror story, a cautionary tale," is how director Hao Wu describes his new documentary, 'People's Republic of Desire.' Recode's Kara Swisher talks to Hao Wu, alongside Loretta Chao, a former WSJ reporter who covers tech in China, about streaming culture in China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger in conversation with Lydia Polgreen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John Shahidi, the CEO and co-founder of digital production company Shots Studios, talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about creating content for warring online platforms like Netflix, YouTube and Spotify. In this episode: (01:45) What Shots Studios does; (07:49) What it used to be and how it got Justin Bieber to invest; (16:49) How Shots found the stars it manages; (20:31) How it works with those stars; (29:19) The distribution strategy; (35:24) What platforms work best for Shots' content; (43:31) Twitter Video and getting "Shahidi'd"; (47:00) What Shahidi has learned from experimenting with social media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jonathan Swan, the national political reporter for Axios, talks with the New York Times' Maggie Haberman about the highs and lows of covering the Trump administration. In this episode: (01:18) What to expect from the Trump administration in 2019; (06:35) How do reporters ensure that their reporting on Donald Trump is accurate?; (10:14) Should they change their approach?; (12:28) Swan's background; (16:14) How he started covering Trump for The Hill; (20:22) Trump's relationship with the media; (24:39) The Jim Acosta incident; (26:14) Swan's approach to reporting; (28:43) His interview of Trump and people's reactions; (32:15) The birthright news from that interview; (35:25) What does the press get wrong about this administration?; (38:42) Does Swan miss writing longer stories?; (40:26) Do presidential interviews matter as much as they used to? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Beth Comstock, the former vice chair of GE and former president of integrated media at NBCUniversal, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, "Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change." In this episode: (01:34) Comstock's background and taking over digital at NBC; (05:56) iVillage and making digital content in-house; (09:59) Why NBC and Fox needed to make Hulu; (12:19) The difficulties of starting it; (16:14) Bringing in ABC and the "existential threat" of tech; (18:18) Mistakes made; (21:56) Why she wrote her book; (23:32) "I was more able to be more creative at GE than NBC"; (31:26) How to get a big company to be innovative; (34:14) What does "Imagine It Forward" mean?; (36:03) Imagination vs. agitation; (41:25) Tips for being more imaginative; (43:42) How do you decide what to invest in?; (48:21) Three things that have to change in business; (49:52) Women at work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about launching the live video service, selling it to Amazon and reckoning with tech companies' responsibilities to their users. In this episode: (01:41) Why Twitch is "multiplayer entertainment"; (04:31) Shear's background at Justin.tv; (08:50) Pivoting from Justin.tv to Twitch; (11:13) Why Twitch sold itself to Amazon; (16:04) What non-gaming content is popular; (19:17) Movies and football on Twitch; (22:27) How Twitch gets non-gaming content; (24:46) Fortnite and other huge games; (27:06) How game streamers make money; (30:17) NinjaTyler and some musician named Drake; (34:23) The competitive landscape in live video; (39:15) Attracting an audience; (42:08) Tech addiction and streamer burnout; (47:16) Shear's autonomy within Amazon Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jeff Green, the CEO of the online advertising marketplace The Trade Desk, talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about the state of digital ads. In this episode: (2:04) Competing with Google and Facebook; (4:21) What the Trade Desk does; (06:56) Programmatic advertising, Yahoo and Microsoft; (12:35) Fixing “crappy” ads online; (15:26) Google and Facebook’s lack of transparency; (17:18) Are programmatic ads responsible for publications’ declining revenues?; (20:08) Subscriptions vs. ads and Connected TV; (24:00) Will Netflix ever have advertising?; (26:12) Matching brands with “safe” content; (28:55) Fraudulent programmatic ads; (32:09) "The biggest problem in advertising today”; (36:06) Convincing people top buy ads off Google and Facebook; (39:41) Amazon’s encroachment on Google’s turf; (42:39) GDPR and other regulations; (45:27) Direct-to-consumer offerings and China Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Noah Shachtman, the editor in chief of the Daily Beast, talks with BuzzFeed's Steven Perlberg about taking over that job in May and how he's thinking about the "gonzo" site's place in the media landscape. In this episode: (01:07) How The Daily Beast fits into the media ecosystem; (04:55) How the rest of the media is handling the Trump moment; (08:25) Access journalism and Axios; (11:42) Being opinionated on Twitter; (13:51) How should outlets respond to bad-faith attacks?; (17:04) Social media policies; (19:30) Facebook's algorithm tweaks; (22:51) Running the Daily Beast and optioning stories to Hollywood; (24:50) Beast Inside and being owned by Barry Diller; (26:58) Covering political campaigns and why "next year may be the craziest year yet"; (29:31) The "gonzo spirit" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices