Mixed Signals from Semafor Media Podcast
1) Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on algorithms, AI slop, and how to beat TikTok
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri joins Mixed Signals to talk about what Instagram actually is in 2025, and what it isn't. Max and Ben ask about the platform’s new move onto TV screens, the dominance of Reel...Show More
2) Andy Richter on Late Night’s decline, “Dancing With the Stars,” and new media
Comedy veteran and longtime Conan O’Brien sidekick Andy Richter joins Mixed Signals for an existentially funny conversation about surviving three decades in entertainment. Max and Ben ask Andy about h...Show More
3) David Remnick on 100 years of the New Yorker, Netflix stardom, and why Trump was late to meet him
The New Yorker’s longtime editor-in-chief David Remnick joins Mixed Signals for a candid conversation about a new Netflix documentary about the magazine, and the New Yorker’s past, present, and uncert...Show More
4) Trump’s war on public media, with PBS CEO Paula Kerger
Paula Kerger, the chief executive of America’s public broadcaster, joins Mixed Signals at a moment when public broadcasting is facing its most existential threat in decades. Max and Ben ask her about ...Show More
5) Can the Supreme Court keep its secrets? With Jodi Kantor of the New York Times
New York Times investigative reporter Jodi Kantor joins Mixed Signals to explain how she’s revealed the secrets of internal deliberations behind the ceremony and black robes of the US Supreme Court. M...Show More
6) Derek Thompson on why everything is becoming television, and whether democracy can survive it
Is television the final form of all media? Derek Thompson, the co-author of Abundance, podcaster, and Atlantic writer joins Mixed Signals to explain what he sees as the forces behind what Ben and Max ...Show More
7) GQ Editor Will Welch on masculinity, celebrities, and staying cool as he ages
Will Welch is the Global Director of GQ, and has been the editor-in-chief of its US operation since 2019. On this week’s Mixed Signals, Welch talks to Ben and Max about how the magazine plans to addre...Show More
8) Ken Burns on the future of PBS, the new age of media, and why documentaries will outlast TikTok
Ken Burns has been telling the story of America through his entire career with genre-defining documentaries on the Civil War, the Vietnam War, and now the American Revolution. This week, Ben and Max b...Show More
9) The inside story of Sydney Sweeney's 'Great Jeans' — and why American Eagle ignored crisis comms
American Eagle’s summer campaign with Sydney Sweeney blew up in ways no one could’ve imagined – but chief marketing officer, Craig Brommers, knew they were going to hit a cultural nerve. This week, Be...Show More
10) Governor JB Pritzker on Chicago, ICE, and the information war with Trump’s White House
Chicago is either a war zone quickly spiraling out of control, or a peaceful city under siege by an overreaching federal government. It all depends on who you ask — and which channel they watch. This ...Show More