Media

1. Another Axel Springer exit
2. Mixed Signals
3. CBS’ controversies
4. Must-see TV
5. Politico Wall Street?

Artificial intelligence may replace all jobs, rendering human labor obsolete and fundamentally changing society forever. But for now, it’s settling for selling search ads.

Late last week, OpenAI announced it was piloting advertising in the cheapest versions of ChatGPT, ending months of speculation about when the platform would begin monetizing its free users. It’s a notable move that seems to acknowledge AI’s current technological limitations, OpenAI’s revenue needs, and language models’ powerful, untapped potential to help people answer questions and solve their problems every day. It also introduces a potential third player that could eventually disrupt the digital advertising duopoly of Google and Meta.

But most of all, it’s an age old consumer tech story: Launch a platform, get users hooked, monetize those users using their data. Like other tech companies before it — and like Netflix — OpenAI began by sneering at advertising, and is now promising that users can still “trust that ChatGPT’s responses are driven by what’s objectively useful, never by advertising.”

OpenAI is starting slow, and claims that introducing advertising could bring in revenue merely in the low billions this year. But we’ll be on the lookout for Sam Altman at Hôtel du Cap this summer when Semafor returns to Cannes Lions.

Also today: Our Semafor colleagues are mingling with the media elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Sign up for their dispatches here.

Axel Springer’s Sturm und Drang

Another top editor departed from one of Axel Springer’s publications amid allegations of workplace misconduct, in the latest iteration of a pattern that has worried some higher-ups within the company and put the spotlight on CEO Mathias Döpfner’s leadership. Jan Philipp Burgard, the editor of the highbrow German paper Die Welt, said he was stepping down for what he said were medical reasons, though the company was also investigating reports that he’d behaved inappropriately at a holiday party, multiple people familiar with the situation told Semafor.

It’s an episode that bears some similarities to harassment scandals elsewhere within the German media conglomerate in recent years, such as at the tabloid Bild. Döpfner, a music journalist-turned-billionaire, recently consolidated control of the company and is in the market for major acquisitions, as Semafor first reported last year. But the procession of recent exits by high-ranking Axel Springer officials has raised questions about the company’s culture and whether Döpfner is surrounding himself with too many scandal-prone figures.

That culture could have a real impact; as Döpfner eyes larger targets, like The Wall Street Journal or Bloomberg’s news arm, he’ll likely need outside investors — who could look unkindly on the messy headlines that Axel Springer’s senior staffers have sometimes generated.

Sarah Rogers on digital diplomacy

Sarah Rogers, the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy, joins Mixed Signals for a wide-ranging conversation about free speech, tech regulation, and why she’s been rattling the patience of some European governments. Max and Ben press her on confronting Europe over X, the Digital Services Act, and online speech — including accusations that she’s carrying water for Elon Musk and the far right. Rogers traces her worldview back to the early internet, Gawker comment sections, and First Amendment litigation, and explains why she sees today’s speech rules as potentially dangerous.

CBS hopes for fresh start

CBS News is hoping to move on from at least one of its controversies. On Sunday, the network aired a delayed 60 Minutes segment on a notorious El Salvadoran prison that one of the network’s producers said had been shelved for political reasons. Although new network chief Bari Weiss did not get the on-the-record interviews she hoped for, airing the segment relieves one pressure point for a network swamped with negative stories and leaks. Now if only CBS News could get a ratings boost for its Evening News broadcast; despite increased national media attention and some viral clips, ratings have fallen since anchor Tony Dokoupil took over, a data point some of the network’s rivals have been pleased to point out to media reporters.

Meanwhile, the White House continued to exert pressure on CBS News to air all of its interviews live, unedited. The New York Times reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt threatened to sue CBS if it didn’t air the unedited version of Dokoupil’s interview last week with Trump.

Must-see Macy’s TV

One of the most lucrative media events of the year is a multi-day advertisement for an aging department store chain. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, broadcast by NBC, is “the highest-rated program on television outside of a sports event,” Macy’s CEO Tony Spring told our CEO editor Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson last week. Last year’s event drew some 35 million viewers across TV and streaming, he said — up 8%, and proof that all-American monocultural moments can still break through in an increasingly atomized environment, even if the format has changed. (Now influencers give dispatches from the parade, and you can tune in early to watch workers blow up the floats.) Spring said Macy’s renewed its deal with NBC recently for a multiple of what the network was paying before, though he demurred on the specifics. But if giant cartoon characters wafting down Manhattan draw an even remotely comparable audience with live sports, that would’ve been an eyewatering sum.

Politico plans service for finance pros

Politico wants more readers on Wall Street. As we first reported earlier this week — buried in the news of its restructuring and its search for a new editor-in-chief — the Beltway publication told staff that it was launching a new paid version of Politico aimed at finance and investment professionals. During a meeting with staff last week, Politico CEO Goli Sheikholeslami said that the company recently realized there was “increased inbound interest” in the company’s existing paywalled Politico Pro offerings “from hedge funds, private equity firms, investment banks and asset managers.” In the coming months, Politico plans on developing and piloting another premium paid subscription service for investment professionals that could be tailored to the needs of individual subscribers.

“We realized that in a world where politics and policy are the radical disruption — investment professionals are increasingly seeking insights into how these policy developments will reshape the value of companies, sectors and entire markets. We spotted this trend and we are quickly going after it,” she told staff.

• Jimmy Finkelstein is hoping to make a return to digital media. The founder of The Messenger has been reaching out to people in recent weeks, attempting to recruit potential talent for a new podcast company, Semafor has learned. Finkelstein did not respond to a request for comment.
• The Los Angeles Times is trying to woo investors with generous terms before its initial public offering. The newspaper company said it wants to raise $500 million before going public by 2027. In an email to subscribers on Sunday, the company offered “a 7% annual dividend until the planned public offering,” and said it would “convert at a 25% discount to the public offering price.” The terms suggest the paper wants cash now, and may not be in much better shape than it was in 2024, when it lost nearly $50 million.
• Paramount executives met with French President Emmanuel Macron and other French officials earlier this week ahead of a European Commission meeting, as the company tries to lobby them into taking regulatory action against Netflix over its attempted acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
• Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, the backer of many major journalism projects, says he is scaling back his journalistic giving: “A lot of my efforts haven’t been as effective as I’d like them to be,” he acknowledged in an interview last week.
• YouTubers are declaring a “vibecession,” citing slowing growth and unpredictable stats.
• Semafor CEO Justin Smith and editor-in-chief Ben Smith recorded a bonus episode of Mixed Signals in which they fielded questions (from your host) about Semafor’s recent $30 million investment round, the future of the company, and the state of digital media.
• The news site Tangle is publishing some of its internal Slack messages to explain its editorial processes.
• The author of this newsletter chronicled a week of eating for New York magazine’s Grub Street Diet.