The long-anticipated news startup Semafor launches on Tuesday with a team of prominent journalists producing a mix of scoops, analysis and newsletters, but its most unique feature may be in the way that it presents its stories.
Stories are broken down to different components, starting with the actual news, followed by the reporter’s view; a disagreeing view; an alternate, often international perspective; and a look at what is next;
The format, called Semaform, was a chief goal of co-founders Justin Smith, former CEO of Bloomberg Media, and Ben Smith, former New York Times columnist and editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, as Semafor enters a busy and crowded digital news space.
“We’re sort of thinking a lot about what consumers respond to, what do they want, what bothers people about this black box as a news article,” said Ben Smith. “We are trying to strip it down to its elements...
Stories are broken down to different components, starting with the actual news, followed by the reporter’s view; a disagreeing view; an alternate, often international perspective; and a look at what is next;
The format, called Semaform, was a chief goal of co-founders Justin Smith, former CEO of Bloomberg Media, and Ben Smith, former New York Times columnist and editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, as Semafor enters a busy and crowded digital news space.
“We’re sort of thinking a lot about what consumers respond to, what do they want, what bothers people about this black box as a news article,” said Ben Smith. “We are trying to strip it down to its elements...
- 10/18/2022
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
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Semafor will be in the video business.
The news startup, founded by Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith and former New York Times media columnist Ben Smith, plans to roll out video programming shortly after launch, and has hired Joe Posner, who co-founded Vox.com’s Vox Video division, to lead its efforts in the space.
Posner, who helped launch Vox Video in 2014, spearheaded its Explained franchise for Netflix, and Glad You Asked for YouTube, among other programming. Shows that Posner has worked on have secured 10 Emmy nominations.
“I’ve admired — and been jealous — of Joe and his team’s work and success for years,” Ben Smith tells The Hollywood Reporter. “When we started talking it became clear that we share obsessions with transparency and optimism about reaching audiences around the world through video.”
Semafor is hoping to appeal to a global audience, and...
Semafor will be in the video business.
The news startup, founded by Bloomberg Media CEO Justin Smith and former New York Times media columnist Ben Smith, plans to roll out video programming shortly after launch, and has hired Joe Posner, who co-founded Vox.com’s Vox Video division, to lead its efforts in the space.
Posner, who helped launch Vox Video in 2014, spearheaded its Explained franchise for Netflix, and Glad You Asked for YouTube, among other programming. Shows that Posner has worked on have secured 10 Emmy nominations.
“I’ve admired — and been jealous — of Joe and his team’s work and success for years,” Ben Smith tells The Hollywood Reporter. “When we started talking it became clear that we share obsessions with transparency and optimism about reaching audiences around the world through video.”
Semafor is hoping to appeal to a global audience, and...
- 7/11/2022
- by Alex Weprin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director: Alex Gibney; Screenwriter Alex Gibney; Starring: Lance Armstrong, Reed Albergotti, Betsy Andreu, Michelle Ferrari; Running time: 124 mins; Certificate: 15
The issue of self-insertion is a tricky one for documentary filmmakers. It's tempting for any director to cast themselves as more than a narrator or a tour guide, but participate too much and you end up distracting from the story you're actually telling, as Michael Moore has demonstrated amply and often.
Alex Gibney, arguably the best non-fiction filmmaker working today, knows when to pull back and when to lean in - he was scarcely a presence at all in last year's compelling We Steal Secrets, but here his involvement is crucial, and his relationship with his subject ultimately more illuminating than any of the talking head segments that surround it.
Gibney was given unprecedented access to Lance Armstrong in 2008, for a documentary that originally took shape as a kind of comeback chronicle-cum-puff piece.
The issue of self-insertion is a tricky one for documentary filmmakers. It's tempting for any director to cast themselves as more than a narrator or a tour guide, but participate too much and you end up distracting from the story you're actually telling, as Michael Moore has demonstrated amply and often.
Alex Gibney, arguably the best non-fiction filmmaker working today, knows when to pull back and when to lean in - he was scarcely a presence at all in last year's compelling We Steal Secrets, but here his involvement is crucial, and his relationship with his subject ultimately more illuminating than any of the talking head segments that surround it.
Gibney was given unprecedented access to Lance Armstrong in 2008, for a documentary that originally took shape as a kind of comeback chronicle-cum-puff piece.
- 1/29/2014
- Digital Spy
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