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User:SemaforMP/Semafor

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Semafor
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, U.S.
Founder(s)
Key people
Employees60 (2022)
Current statusActive

Semafor is a global news organization and platform established in October 2022. Headquartered in New York City, Semafor also has offices in Washington, D.C., and bureaus in London and Africa. Co-founders Justin B. Smith and Ben Smith are the chief executive officer and editor-in-chief, respectively.

Description and etymology

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The New York Times has called Semafor a "global news organization".[1] Vox has described Semafor as "a collection of newsletters, plus a website, aimed at an upscale audience that understands topics like Washington politics and Silicon Valley tech but wants more".[2] The website is free to access and supported by advertisements, though Semafor's co-founders have described plans to convert to a paid subscription model.[2] The organization is based in New York City.[3]

The name "Semafor" is derived from the word "semaphore", which "appears in similar form in many languages". According to The New York Times, "semaphore" is "often used in a nautical context" and can be described as "a visual signaling apparatus often involving flags, lights and arm gestures".[4] The co-founders appreciated that the word "sounds about the same in thirty-five languages".[3]

History

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Semafor was launched by journalist Ben Smith, who was previously a media columnist for The New York Times,[4] and Justin B. Smith, the chief executive officer of Bloomberg Media Group, in October 2022.[1][2] The duo had met in Manhattan in 2008 and kept in touch; at a conference in Davos in 2018, they began a series of discussions which led to the development of Semafor over four years.[3] Ahead of the launch, both men resigned from their previous positions in January 2022.[5][6] A federal trademark registration for Semafor was filed on January 16, and the Smiths announced the organization's name in March 2022.[4]

Leading up to the launch, Semafor advertised heavily on Twitter. Semafor and Twitter also have a video distribution partnership.[7] Semafor partnered with Gallup for data, and uses office space in the analytics company's headquarters in Washington, D.C.[1] In addition to offices in New York City and Washington, D.C., Semafor has a presence in London and Africa. There are plans to expand to Asia, other parts of Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.[8] Semafor has an equity program which shares profits with employees.[9]

Funding

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Operations were initially supported by $25 million in investment funding, as well as revenue generated from advertising and in-person events. Investors have included Sam Bankman-Fried, David G. Bradley, Jorge Paulo Lemann,[3] and Jessica Lessin.[1] Genesis Motor / Hyundai Motor Company, Mastercard, Pfizer, Qualcomm, the Indian multinational conglomerate Tata Group, and Verizon were among ten founding launch partners.[3][7] Other advertisers and sponsors have included Cisco and Alibaba.[10][11]

In 2023, Semafor announced plans to repurchase Bankman-Fried's investment following the bankruptcy of FTX.[12][13] According to the Financial Times, "the structure of Semafor's pre-seed funding round gave Bankman-Fried 'no actual shares' in the private company, which has a dual-class ownership".[14]

Staff

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Gina Chua, Semafor's executive editor, in 2022

Co-founders Justin B. Smith and Ben Smith are the chief executive officer and editor-in-chief, respectively.[15] Gina Chua was announced as the executive editor in March 2022.[16] Rachel Oppenheim is the chief revenue officer and Kellen Henry is the head of product.[1]

Semafor launched with approximately 60 employees, at least half of which were reporters.[3][17] Initial hires included Reed Albergotti of The Washington Post, Liz Hoffman of The Wall Street Journal, and Maxi Tani of Politico, who would focus on technology, business and finance, and media, respectively.[1][18][19] In his role as editor-at-large, Steven Clemons oversees live journalism operations, moderates on-stage interviews, and writes a newsletter about American politics and policy.[1][7] David Weigel writes a newsletter called "Americana".[7]

Benjy Sarlin is chief of the Washington, D.C., bureau.[7] Nigerian editor Yinka Adegoke leads Semafor Africa, the organization's first international edition.[3][5][20] Alexis Akwagyiram joined as managing editor from the Financial Times.[9]

Content and activities

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Semafor's website and newsletters use a journalistic innovation called Semaform, which has five components: "The News", "Reporter's View", "Room for Disagreement", "The View From", and "Notable".[19][17] The structure separates facts from opinions, displays bylines prominently, and allows journalists to offer analysis.[1][3][7] According to CNBC, "Each story will give reporters a chance to weigh in on news, themselves, in a specific section, while also including paragraphs on why their take may be wrong. Stories will also include a section giving a macro/global perspective, to limit local bias."[17]

Initial stories included Albergotti's coverage of an accident at SpaceX which injured a rocket technician, and Hoffmann's report on a campaign by investors seeking to coerce The Coca-Cola Company into the garbage business. Additionally, Weigel published an interview with U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman and Ben Smith's debut column was about "an identity crisis" at The New York Times,[21] which included the first interview with James Bennet since his departure from the newspaper.[3] Other early stories covered Elon Musk, TikTok's launch of an e-commerce feature, the replacement of The Wall Street Journal's editor, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's possible removal of "a controversial provision in proposed carbon-emission-disclosure rules".[3] Adegoke has reported on an unpaid investment pledged by Western nations in 2009 to benefit developing countries.[3]

Newsletters and video programming

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Semafor publishes a series of newsletters and produces original video content.[1][22][23] Distinct newsletters cover Africa, American politics and policy, business and finance, climate, international security, media, and technology.[1] Semafor's daily newsletter with a global focus is called Flagship.[7] The organization's One Good Text newsletter series features journalists interviewing people via text messaging; participants have included Ron Klain, David Zaslav, and world leaders. Verizon has sponsored an expanded version of the series, called 10 Minute Texts, which features unedited interviews published on Semafor's website and newsletters.[24] The video format Witness focuses on people who have experienced global events. Semafor has used Stable Diffusion, a deep learning, text-to-image model, to create detailed images based on text descriptions.[7]

Events

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In 2022, Semafor hosted a series of events prior to its launch,[21] including an interview with Nick Clegg of Meta Platforms.[25] A July event with Tucker Carlson and Taylor Lorenz focused on polarization and trust within the news industry, and was sponsored in part by the Knight Foundation.[7] Karine Jean-Pierre and Anthony Scaramucci participated in a November 2022 event called Media, Government, and a Healthy Democracy.[3] In January 2023, Semafor hosted an event on e-commerce and the future of the U.S. economy featuring members of Congress, including U.S. Representative Darin LaHood.[11]

Semafor hosts multiple live journalism event series. In December 2022, the company's first Africa Week featured interviews with Rwandan president Paul Kagame,[26] U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai,[27] and Qin Gang, China's ambassador to the U.S.[10][28] Semafor's inaugural media summit in April 2023 was held in New York City and featured Barry Diller,[29] Chris Licht, Jen Psaki,[30] Stephen A. Smith, and Kara Swisher.[28][31] The company's first World Economy Summit in Washington, D.C., in April 2023, featured National Economic Council director Lael Brainard[32][33] and Microsoft president Brad Smith.[34]

China and Global Business initiative

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Semafor's China and Global Business initiative seeks to "serve as a platform for business leaders to discuss U.S.-China relations", according to Axios.[35] Semafor has said the project's purpose is to offer a "diversity of opinion" and "an alternative to Washington's 'hawkish' consensus on Beijing".[36] The platform's advisory board has members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as well as "CCP front group officials" and "pro-China business leaders", according to the The Washington Free Beacon.[36]

As of 2023, advisors include: Chen Deming, a former Minister of Commerce; Cui Tiankai, a former ambassador of China to the U.S.; Wang Huiyao, an architect of the Thousand Talents Plan to recruit experts in science and technology from abroad; Zeng Yuqun, the founder and chair of CATL who serves as member of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce as well as the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; and Zhou Xiaochuan, a former governor of People's Bank of China.[36]

Following the project's launch in March 2023, Semafor was criticized for partnering with the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a Beijing-based think tank founded by Wang and affiliated with the United Front Work Department. Diana Furchtgott-Roth of The Heritage Foundation also criticized Semafor for Zeng's involvement.[36] Contrastingly, Eurasia Group founder Ian Bremmer has encouraged new media organizations to establish relationships with China and said, "If you're not talking to the Chinese, you're not doing good journalism."[37] Justin Smith said agreements were "deliberately and explicitly structured" to uphold journalistic independence and "will be exclusively underwritten by corporate partnerships with no financial contributions from our local Chinese partners or the Chinese government".[35] Clarifying the relationship, Semafor has also said CCG will "secure required approvals, and issue formal invitations to Chinese speakers and audience members", and will "take on local administrative responsibilities and coordinate with local sponsors, and Semafor will pay CCG for their services".[35]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Robertson, Katie; Mullin, Benjamin (June 22, 2022). "Semafor Readies Entry Into Tricky Digital News Market". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Kafka, Peter (October 26, 2022). "Ben Smith's Semafor is live. He says it will take 10 years to get it right". Vox. Vox Media. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Piore, Adam (November 21, 2022). "Meet the Smiths". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Grynbaum, Michael M. (March 22, 2022). "Justin and Ben Smith pick a name for their media start-up". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Klein, Charlotte (August 3, 2022). "Ben Smith's Lofty, Perhaps Ill-Timed, Analogy for Semafor's Global Play: The "Netflix" of News". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  6. ^ Gelles, David (January 4, 2022). "Ben Smith Is Leaving The Times for a Global News Start-Up". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Johnson, Ted (October 18, 2022). "Semafor Launches with Aim of Boosting Trust in Global News Amid a Busy Digital Marketplace". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  8. ^ Sharma, Samidha (August 19, 2022). "Global news media startup Semafor open to an India partner for launching local edition". The Economic Times. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Scire, Sarah (October 18, 2022). "The media startup Semafor launches with a "more honest" article format and lots of global ambition". Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  10. ^ a b Stenberg, Mark (December 12, 2022). "Semafor Will Generate 30% of Its First-Year Revenue From Events". Adweek. Retrieved April 19, 2023. Sponsors include Qualcomm, Cisco and Mastercard
  11. ^ a b Ma, Wenhao (February 9, 2023). "China's Alibaba Spends Big on DC Lobbying, Campaign Contributions". Voice of America. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  12. ^ Waxman, Sharon (January 3, 2023). "Semafor to 'Redeem' Sam Bankman-Fried Investment – In Other Words, Return It". The Wrap. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  13. ^ Mullin, Benjamin; Yaffe-Bellany, David (January 18, 2023). "Media Start-Up Semafor Plans to Buy Out Sam Bankman-Fried's Investment". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  14. ^ Barker, Alex; Nicolaou, Anna (January 18, 2023). "Semafor explores options to buy out Sam Bankman-Fried's interest". Financial Times. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  15. ^ Coster, Helen (October 18, 2022). "Semafor news platform launches". Reuters. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  16. ^ Robertson, Katie (March 15, 2022). "Ben and Justin Smith Name Gina Chua as Executive Editor at News Start-Up". The New York Times.
  17. ^ a b c Sherman, Alex (October 18, 2022). "Semafor debuts in a tough media environment, with an aim toward decluttering the news". CNBC. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  18. ^ Fischer, Sara (June 9, 2022). "Semafor hires Liz Hoffman as business and finance editor". Axios. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  19. ^ a b Allsop, Jon (October 19, 2022). "Semaform and function". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  20. ^ Nicolaou, Anna (August 1, 2022). "New media venture Semafor takes shape as economic backdrop darkens". Financial Times. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  21. ^ a b Bauder, David (October 18, 2022). "Semafor news site makes debut, intent on reinventing news". Associated Press. Retrieved April 19, 2023. Events will also be a big part of Semafor's business, and 11 have already been held
  22. ^ Pareso, Brad (July 12, 2022). "Vox's Joe Posner Hired to Lead Video for Justin Smith and Ben Smith's Semafor". Adweek. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  23. ^ Weprin, Alex (July 11, 2022). "Vox's Joe Posner Hired to Lead Video For Justin Smith and Ben Smith's Semafor". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  24. ^ Guaglione, Sara (January 25, 2023). "Semafor sells Verizon on sponsoring its text message interview series". Digiday. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
  25. ^ Kern, Rebecca (September 22, 2022). "Top Meta exec Clegg to decide whether to reinstate Trump on Facebook". Politico. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  26. ^ Crowley, Michael (December 14, 2022). "Rwanda's president says the United States can't 'bully' him into releasing a political opponent". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  27. ^ "USTR Tai says MOU with African trade area to explore next phase of relationship". Yahoo! Finance. Reuters. December 12, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  28. ^ a b Weprin, Alex (March 23, 2023). "Semafor Plans Inaugural Media Summit: Chris Licht, Jen Psaki, Barry Diller Among Interviewees (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  29. ^ Jones, Rachyl (April 11, 2023). "AI Is Threatening the Media Business, and IAC's Barry Diller Has an Answer". The New York Observer. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  30. ^ Dominick, Mastrangelo (April 11, 2023). "Psaki says she considers herself a journalist". The Hill. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  31. ^ Ross, Garrett (April 11, 2023). "Playbook PM: Chicago lands 2024 Dem convention". Politico. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  32. ^ Wallace, Alicia (April 12, 2023). "Brainard: US banking system is 'sound' and 'stable'". CNN. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  33. ^ Miller, Rich (April 12, 2023). "Brainard, Unlike Yellen, Sees Signs of a Pullback in Bank Credit". Bloomberg News. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  34. ^ Ward, Alexander; Berg, Matt; Hawkins, Ari (April 12, 2023). "Ukraine isn't happy with U.S. view of counteroffensive". Politico. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  35. ^ a b c Fischer, Sara; Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany (March 7, 2023). "Semafor's China problem". Axios. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  36. ^ a b c d Simonson, Joseph; Ross, Chuck (March 3, 2023). "Semafor's China Initiative Counts CCP 'Chamber of Commerce' Executive as an Adviser". The Washington Free Beacon. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  37. ^ Byers, Dylan (March 8, 2023). "Tucker's Troubles & Licht's Cri de Coeur". Puck. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
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