Recode Media with Peter Kafka
489 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 months ago - ★★★★★ - 468 ratingsWhat happens when media, entertainment, and technology collide? Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians and podcasters to get their take. Produced by Recode and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
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Episodes
NYU's Jay Rosen says 2020's political journalism will be even worse than 2016's
January 24, 2019 05:01 - 55 minutesNYU journalism professor Jay Rosen talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about the problematic state of the political media in the Trump era. In this episode: Why 2020 will be even worse for the political press than 2016; alternatives to "horse race" political coverage; how the Democrats' takeover of the House of Representatives is encouraging the media's worst habits; media outlets that anger liberal audiences; the state of Trump journalism; Rosen grades the different roles of the press; the repea...
Axios business editor Dan Primack on newsletters, IPOs and the economy in 2019
January 17, 2019 05:01 - 48 minutesAxios' Dan Primack, the author of the Pro Rata business newsletter, talks with Recode's Peter Kafka. In this episode: Why Dan Primack didn't start his own site like other star journalists; economic predictions for 2019, including what companies will go public this year; whether those companies will mimic Spotify's direct listing IPO instead of going through a bank; predictions for the media industry; what journalists get wrong about business and what businesses like Facebook get wrong about j...
Harvard's Susan Crawford on the importance of fiber internet
January 10, 2019 05:01 - 34 minutesHarvard 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 politic...
Neil Vogel on turning around an aging internet property
January 03, 2019 05:01 - 44 minutes‘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
Filmmaker Hao Wu and Loretta Chao on streaming culture in China
December 27, 2018 05:00 - 43 minutes"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
Lydia Polgreen talks to Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian
December 20, 2018 05:01 - 1 hourFormer Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger in conversation with Lydia Polgreen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The big business of being a social media star
December 13, 2018 05:01 - 52 minutesJohn 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; (43:3...
Axios reporter Jonathan Swan talks to Maggie Haberman about reporting on the Trump administration
December 06, 2018 16:02 - 43 minutesJonathan 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...
Former GE and NBC executive Beth Comstock
November 29, 2018 06:02 - 56 minutesBeth 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...
How Twitch's CEO thinks about tech addiction
November 22, 2018 05:01 - 51 minutesTwitch 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...
Netflix will get ads, predicts The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green
November 15, 2018 05:01 - 50 minutesJeff 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 Connecte...
Is the Daily Beast the new Gawker?
November 13, 2018 05:01 - 33 minutesNoah 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 med...
John Skipper: You’ve heard of ESPN. Now give DAZN a try.
November 08, 2018 06:38 - 54 minutesFormer ESPN president John Skipper talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about his new role as chairman of the DAZN Group, an online sports streaming service that recently launched in the U.S. In this episode: (1:00) Skipper's new job; (3:52) How it compares to his old job, running ESPN; (10:00) What DAZN does; (20:25) How Skipper got from ESPN to DAZN; (22:48) Skipper's surprise departure from ESPN; (25:41) #MeToo and societal change; (28:24) Diversity and politics at ESPN; (33:25) Sports rights ...
'The Front Runner' director Jason Reitman
November 01, 2018 04:01 - 36 minutesFilm director Jason Reitman talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about his new movie, "The Front Runner," which stars Hugh Jackman and chronicles Gary Hart's scandalous 1988 presidential campaign. In this episode: (1:12) Reitman’s past movies, such as “Up in the Air"; (2:40) "The Front Runner" and Gary Hart; (5:41) How the Hart scandal changed political journalism; (7:32) The legacy of the scandal and Donald Trump; (9:39) Donna Rice, #MeToo and how the stories of women in sex scandals get told; (...
Snap VP of Content Nick Bell
October 25, 2018 04:01 - 43 minutesNick Bell, the vice president of content at Snapchat maker Snap, talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about In this episode: (02:35) Bell's background as a 16-year-old entrepreneur; (06:43) Quick.tv and News Corp; (09:12) Meeting Evan Spiegel and the surprise job interview; (11:34) What works best in Snapchat Discover?; (16:47) Why Stories caught on and created the language of mobile video; (21:05) Who is the audience for Discover?; (22:47) How to balance sexy selfies with serious journalism; (28...
NFL Network analyst Maurice Jones-Drew
October 23, 2018 04:01 - 58 minutesMaurice Jone-Drew, a former running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Oakland Raiders, talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about the transition from playing football into talking about it — as an analyst on the NFL Network and a color commentator for the Los Angeles Rams. In this episode: (01:38) Monday Night Football and the LA Rams; (05:01) How Drew got into broadcasting; (11:06) Being critical of former teammates; (14:58) TV ratings, Colin Kaepernick and the politics of protest; (22:50) H...
'The Fairway' author Matt Taibbi
October 18, 2018 04:01 - 47 minutesMatt Taibbi, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, talks with BuzzFeed's Steven Perlberg about "The Fairway," a new book that he is publishing via a paid email newsletter. In this episode: (01:19) The endurance of newsletters and Taibbi's last book, "The Business Secrets of Drug Dealing"; (07:02) How cable news brought about President Trump; (11:42) The problem with the "Trump angle" mindset; (15:08) Alternative business models for journalism; (17:28) The legacy of the 2008 financial crisi...
Rival CEO Nathan Hubbard
October 11, 2018 04:01 - 50 minutesFormer Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about his new live events startup, Rival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Vanity Fair editor Radhika Jones
October 04, 2018 05:14 - 40 minutesRadhika Jones, the editor of Vanity Fair, talks with HuffPost's Lydia Polgreen about the role of the magazine and its famous New Establishment list in the digital age. In this episode: (02:17) Graydon Carter and Tina Brown; (05:40) How Jones became editor in chief; (07:12) Her background and becoming a “magazine junkie”; (11:42) Mixing the highbrow and lowbrow; (15:52) Putting Lena Waithe on the cover; (20:16) The fragmentation of and opportunities for magazines online; (25:06) The business ...
'The Big Disruption' author Jessica Powell
October 02, 2018 14:00 - 56 minutesJessica Powell, Google's former vice president of communications, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new novel, "The Big Disruption: A Totally Fictional but Essentially True Silicon Valley Story." In this episode: (02:05) Excerpt #1: Arsyen's introduction; (05:21) Powell's background; (08:17) The Google interview; (11:45) Google's early days in Europe; (13:51) Why she started writing the book; (19:54) Excerpt #2: The management meeting; (22:31) Taking over comms at Google; (27:33) Th...
The Markup co-founder Julia Angwin
September 27, 2018 04:01 - 51 minutesInvestigative journalist Julia Angwin talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about the Markup, a new data-driven nonprofit media outlet that will investigate the "societal harms of emerging technologies." In this episode: (02:05) What is the Markup?; (03:29) “Data journalism” doesn’t mean what you think it means (05:42) Angwin’s "greatest hits” of investigating Facebook; (08:15) Her background and why she left ProPublica; (14:42) Why is The Markup a nonprofit startup?; (17:21) Asking people for don...
'Big Game' author Mark Leibovich
September 25, 2018 04:01 - 57 minutesIf you enjoy Recode Media, we think you'd also like Recode Decode. On a recent episode of the show, Recode's Kara Swisher spoke with Mark Leibovich, the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine and author of "Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times." They discussed the fault lines emerging in America’s football addiction, the public debate over NFL players who kneel in protest during the National Anthem, and whether journalists should change the way they cover politics and ...
Business of Fashion editor in chief Imran Amed
September 20, 2018 04:01 - 49 minutesImran Amed, the founder and editor in chief of the fashion publication Business of Fashion, talks with Recode's Peter Kafka. In this episode:02:30 - New York Fashion Week and the BoF 50006:39 - How Fashion Week is changing09:16 - How Amed built Business of Fashion into a subscription business13:47 - BoF's competitors16:37 - The "creation myth" of Imran Amed and the value of consultants20:19 - Why he resigned from consulting and started a blog24:49 - Writing critically about the fashion indus...
'The Land of Steady Habits' director Nicole Holofcener
September 18, 2018 04:01 - 30 minutesFilmmaker Nicole Holofcener talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about her new film "The Land of Steady Habits," which stars Ben Mendelsohn and is Holofcener's first to be made for Netflix. In this episode:02:10 - Is this a "Netflix movie?"03:20 - What the movie is about05:27 - Audiences on Netflix vs. in theaters09:52 - The process of casting and making "The Land of Steady Habits"14:49 - Commercials and TV shows20:11 - Movies with complicated female leads21:59 - How Hollywood has changed post-Ha...
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey
September 14, 2018 10:30 - 51 minutesIn this special bonus episode of Recode Media, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey talks with NYU professor Jay Rosen about how Twitter is thinking about its responsibilities to society at large. In this episode:01:08 - Technological change02:42 - Dorsey’s outreach to conservatives09:43 - How Twitter employees think about news14:33 - Fluid conversations, threads and "edit” buttons18:56 - Why Twitter isn’t “neutral” and making conversations healthy28:03 - The world is round, but “there are other people w...
Roku CEO Anthony Wood
September 13, 2018 04:01 - 50 minutesRoku CEO Anthony Wood talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about how the TV streaming company went public, embedded itself in a slew of TVs and shrugged off competition from some of the biggest tech firms in the world. In this episode:01:55 - Why Roku is not a “hardware company”02:50 - Roku’s history with Netflix06:42 - Putting the Roku platform on smart TVs11:27 - Working with obscure Chinese TV brands19:09 - Wood’s background with computers25:17 - Competing with Apple, Google and Amazon31:48 - ...
Substack CEO Chris Best
September 06, 2018 04:01 - 47 minutesChris Best, the CEO and co-founder of Substack, talks with the Verge's Casey Newton about how and why writers are starting paid email newsletters. In this episode:01:40 - What is Substack?03:00 - Why email is better than social media06:55 - Readers are nicer on email09:09 - The pioneers of paid email newsletters12:05 - How email compares to podcasting13:54 - How much will people pay for an email?18:32 - What about free newsletters?20:33 - The challenges of running a newsletter22:56 - Curatin...
ThinkProgress founder Judd Legum
August 30, 2018 04:01 - 46 minutesJudd Legum, the founder of the left-wing political blog ThinkProgress, talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about why he left that site to start a political newsletter, Popular Information. In this episode:02:27 - Legum’s background and early blogs05:09 - Starting ThinkProgress08:58 - Working on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign12:59 - The Steele dossier and “who’s the messenger?”15:35 - Have we stopped holding candidates to a higher standard?22:02 - Getting internet-famous in the Trump era25:11 -...
Redef CEO Jason Hirschhorn
August 23, 2018 04:01 - 1 hourJason Hirschhorn, the CEO and chief curator of Redef, returns to the podcast to talk with Recode's Peter Kafka about media moguls, the virtues of taking time off and how Netflix outsmarted the TV guys. In this episode:02:50 - Viacom and YouTube09:51 - Big media on the internet vs. digital-first DNA11:51 - How Netflix outsmarted the TV guys, part one14:48 - The non-Netflixes and “traditional relationships”17:52 - Should tech companies buy movie/TV studios?23:38 - Sumner Redstone25:48 - The fu...
Digiday editor in chief Brian Morrissey
August 16, 2018 04:01 - 54 minutesBrian Morrissey, the president and editor in chief of Digiday Media, talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about how the digital media and marketing business is pivoting toward live events and away from Facebook growth-hacking. Morrissey says he's happy to see the end of "flimsy, overly engineered media brands," many of which were overly dependent on outside platforms to make money. Those publishers were naïve if they didn’t think Facebook would eventually put its own interests above theirs, he say...
Discord CEO Jason Citron
August 09, 2018 14:00 - 43 minutesDiscord CEO Jason Citron talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about how the chat app for PC gamers has grown to 150 million registered users, nearly 20 million of whom use the app every day. Citron says Discord has been "pre-revenue" for the past three years, but now it's starting to think about how it will make money; first up, a games store aimed at recommending new titles to users based on what their friends play, focusing on smaller "indie" titles rather than big games like Fortnite. Citron al...
Product Hunt CEO Ryan Hoover
August 02, 2018 04:01 - 49 minutesRyan Hoover, the founder and CEO of Product Hunt, talks with Recode's Kurt Wagner about running a popular online community for startup founders and other tech enthusiasts. Hoover explains how Product Hunt, now owned by AngelList, is expanding beyond its social media roots into tech news curation and features to help entrepreneurs ship their products to the world. Plus: Why redesigning your app is probably a mistake and how computer-generated celebrities such as Lil Miquela are changing how we...
'Eighth Grade' director Bo Burnham
July 26, 2018 03:59 - 43 minutesComedian Bo Burnham talks about his new movie "Eighth Grade" with Recode's Peter Kafka. Burnham says that although the movie's characters are depicted facing issues shared by real eighth graders, he wrote "Eighth Grade" to reflect how he feels now, as a 27-year-old in the public eye, and "how I handle anxiety" in the social media age. He also talks about how he accidentally became a teenage YouTube star and why he has veered away from stand-up conventions in his comedy specials "What" and "Ma...
'Billions' producer Brian Koppelman
July 19, 2018 03:59 - 47 minutesWriter and filmmaker Brian Koppelman talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about co-creating the hit Showtime series "Billions." Koppelman has made a habit of engaging with the show's fans online, but says that when he's writing new episodes, he has to completely unplug from the rest of the world and not think about how Twitter will react to the latest twists and turns. He also talks about the show's intense commitment to detail, including its frequent visits to real-life New York restaurants, and ...
Manoush Zomorodi: Can blockchain save journalism?
July 12, 2018 04:01 - 56 minutesStable Genius Productions co-founder Manoush Zomorodi talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about her decision to leave public radio juggernaut WNYC for a two-woman startup. Stable Genius is one of 20 companies in the journalism marketplace Civil, which is hoping to leverage the emerging technology blockchain to save media; later this summer, Civil plans to sell 100 million digital coins, which it hopes will appreciate in value the way bitcoin did — benefiting its partners, who also have coins. Zom...
Eugene Wei: The invisible ceilings to Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter’s growth
July 05, 2018 04:01 - 1 hourEugene Wei, an early Amazon employee who went on to work at Hulu, Flipboard and Oculus, talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka about “Invisible asymptotes,”a post on his personal blog that went viral. In it, Wei wrote that all companies have a ceiling to their growth, but the ones that can figure out what that ceiling is can adapt and keep growing beyond it. For example, Wei’s old employer, Amazon, recognized that customers’ aversion to paying for shipping was its ceiling, and so developed Amazon Pr...
‘The King of Content’ author Keach Hagey explains the Redstone dynasty
June 28, 2018 04:01 - 42 minutesWall Street Journal media reporter Keach Hagey talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka about her new book, “The King of Content: Sumner Redstone’s Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire.” Hagey says that, like the Murdochs, Redstone’s family is embroiled in “soap opera drama” as they work out what happens to a company once dominated by a single patriarch-mogul. She talks about why the people closest to Sumner Redstone did not disclose his declining mental health to shareh...
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek (Live at Code 2018)
June 21, 2018 04:01 - 37 minutesDaniel Ek, the CEO of music-streaming company Spotify, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka at the 2018 Code Conference. Ek explains why Spotify temporarily banned R. Kelly from its playlists and why it backed off of that ban. He also talks about the company’s recent public listing and how Spotify plans to grow while losing money every quarter based on normal accounting standards. Plus: Why video is becoming more important to Spotify as a platform and how the company is distinguis...
Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer
June 19, 2018 04:01 - 51 minutesFormer White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, now the co-host of the popular liberal podcast Pod Save America, talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka about his new book, “Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump.” Pfeiffer outlines the ways in which the political media landscape has been profoundly warped and upended since he went to work for Barack Obama in 2009, arguing that today “the press” is such a broad term that it has lost all meaning. He warns his fel...
Gimlet founders Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber
June 14, 2018 04:01 - 49 minutesAlex Blumberg and Matt Lieber, the founders of podcasting network Gimlet, talk with Recode's Peter Kafka about trying to create the "HBO of audio." Gimlet's first show was StartUp, a podcast about the creation of Gimlet itself that exposed the "myth of being an entrepreneur" — although entrepreneurs might say things are always going great, the reality is that everything always feels like it's "about to break," Lieber says. The founders also talk about how Gimlet is expanding beyond its slate ...
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson (Live at Code 2018)
June 12, 2018 04:01 - 39 minutesAT&T CEO Randall Stephenson talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka at the 2018 Code Conference. Stephenson discusses the company’s pending acquisition of Time Warner, which the U.S. Justice Department has attempted to block. Stephenson explains how — if the deal goes through and AT&T therefore owns content — he would deal with public controversies like the racist tweet that got Roseanne Barr fired. He also discusses AT&T’s decision to pay Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen hundreds of thousands of ...
Momofuku chef David Chang (Live at Code 2018)
June 09, 2018 06:41 - 37 minutesDavid Chang, the chef and founder of culinary brand Momofuku, talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka and Eater’s Amanda Kludt at the 2018 Code Conference. Chang — who’s also the host of “Ugly Delicious” on Netflix — says “there was no strategy” for Momofuku’s first decade of growth, but now he’s thinking more strategically about scaling up. Food is now a blue-collar profession with “white-collar values,” Chang says; that means chefs and restaurateurs are afraid of losing “cool” status when they grap...
Jessica Pressler talks 'lady grifters' + Ken Auletta on the 'frenemies' of the ad business
June 07, 2018 05:47 - 1 hourOn this special episode of Recode Media, you get two interviews for the price of one: First, Recode's Peter Kafka talks with Jessica Pressler, a New York Magazine staff writer whose longform story about a New York City high society grifter, Anna Sorokin, became a viral hit online. Pressler explains how she reported that story in a matter of months, and why Sorokin's con worked so well. Later in the show, Kafka is joined by New Yorker media critic Ken Auletta, who's the author of a new book ca...
James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox (Live at Code 2018)
June 05, 2018 04:01 - 39 minutes21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka at the 2018 Code Conference. Murdoch, the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, says he’s focused on “land[ing] the plane” as Fox plans to merge with Disney in the coming months, but doesn’t expect to be a part of either the merged entity or the remaining Fox properties, such as Fox News, which won’t be sold. Murdoch also talks about the possibility of a competing bid for the company from Comcast, what the pending merger signifie...
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and CTO Mike Schroepfer (Live at Code 2018)
May 31, 2018 05:20 - 55 minutesFacebook executives Sheryl Sandberg and Mike Schroepfer talk with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Peter Kafka at the 2018 Code Conference. Sandberg, the company’s COO, and Schroepfer, the CTO, talk about the continuing fallout from Cambridge Analytica and other scandals, including “fake news” during the 2016 elections. They retrace the timeline of the Cambridge Analytica affair and talk about what they’ve learned from their mistakes during that time, pledging to take responsibility for the platform...
Roman Mars, host of 99 Percent Invisible: Don't put podcasts behind a paywall
May 29, 2018 05:59 - 29 minutesRoman Mars, the founder of Radiotopia and host of the hit podcast 99 Percent Invisible, talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about the state of podcasting in 2018. Mars talks about why he started Radiotopia, how it works within the nonprofit PRX and how it thinks about translating its audio shows into live productions. He also explains why the podcasting industry isn't ready to be divvied up into paid subscription services, a la Hulu and Netflix, even though some of its biggest players are beginni...
Ezra Klein explains Vox's new Netflix show 'Explained'
May 24, 2018 04:01 - 1 hourVox.com editor-at-large Ezra Klein talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about Vox's new Netflix series "Explained." The first season of the show, which debuted May 23, will feature 20 mini-documentaries about topics such as monogamy, cryptocurrency or the racial wealth gap. Klein said these topics are too big to be tackled in a three-minute YouTube video, and that one of his team's metrics of success is whether the Netflix episodes are still useful and relevant to people a year or more from now. K...
YouTube's Lyor Cohen on YouTube Music, Childish Gambino and Kanye West
May 22, 2018 04:01 - 43 minutesYouTube global head of music Lyor Cohen talks with Recode’s Peter Kafka about the launch of YouTube Music, a $10-a-month music subscription service that will replace YouTube Red. Cohen says giving the consumers the choice of paying with money or “paying with your eyeballs” by watching ads is the right direction for the music industry, and will liberate artists to make music on their terms. He also talks about a now-infamous photo tweeted by rapper Kanye West in which Cohen and fellow music ex...
What people get wrong about Robin Williams’ life — and his death
May 17, 2018 04:01 - 48 minutesNew York Times reporter Dave Itzkoff talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about his new book, "Robin: The Definitive Biography of Robin Williams." Itzkoff traces the history of the manic comedian and actor, whose stardom spanned more than four decades in roles in TV shows, such as "Mork and Mindy," and movies, like "Good Will Hunting." After Williams' death by suicide in 2014, Itzkoff says fans and the media were led astray by incorrect or incomplete explanations for what happened, and that Willia...
The Outline CEO Josh Topolsky: Online ads are stuck in the '90s
May 10, 2018 04:01 - 1 hourJosh Topolsky, CEO and editor in chief of The Outline, talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about the importance of good internet-native design for both advertising and editorial content. Topolsky dismisses the idea that everything publishers put out will move behind paywalls, arguing instead that when ads are done well, they can engage readers and support free content. Most of the time, though, online media companies have forced boring ads on their audiences, who have learned to ignore them. He a...