TechCrunch Surveys Readers To Set Course For 2024
November 13, 2023
7:55 am
TechCrunch last week fielded a reader survey built to define what TC readers see in 2024, and perhaps, how many editors produce it.
>> Strategies & Pitch Opps
Google Bard: ‘TechCrunch Was Better Than ZDNet and The Verge’
November 8, 2023
11:30 am
Ever go to Techmeme and wonder which article is “the best” on a given topic? Generative AI can help answer that question. We looked at news published this week from ZDNet, TechCrunch and The Verge…
Forbes Contributors Must Disclose Conflicts of Interest. Here’s How Some Choose To Do It.
September 29, 2023
4:04 am
We heard recently that Forbes has asked its contributors to be clearer about their conflicts of interest, if any. We inquired with Forbes PR about this and did not hear back. In any case, we went ahead and studied Forbes contributor disclosures in the AI space.
FT Introduces Tool to Infuse ‘DEI Tone’ Into Edit
September 27, 2023
8:43 am
The Financial Times this month introduced FT Diversify, an AI-powered software SaaS tool that helps publishers create bias-free content.
Connie Loizos Succeeds Matthew Panzarino As TechCrunch EIC
August 30, 2023
6:04 pm
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AI Trends to Watch — Q4 2023
August 16, 2023
6:28 pm
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Beware the Phony Tech News Sites
August 11, 2023
3:03 pm
SWMS agency subscribers increasingly ask us about tech news sites that look legit at a glance, yet there’s something fishy about them.
Larry Dignan Joins Constellation Research to Build News, Analysis and Event Coverage
May 8, 2023
7:49 am
The B2B tech world has a new experience to explore — Constellation Insights from Constellation Research. Its newly hired EIC is Larry Dignan, best known as ZDNet’s former EIC, though he spent the past 17 months overseeing content at Celonis.
What Are Publications Doing With AI? Here’s The Latest Update.
April 20, 2023
7:36 am
Readers have been asking, “What are publications doing with AI? Will AI start to impact my job [in tech PR]?” Based on our research, the answers are (a) they’re not sure yet and (b) not for a very long time.
The New TechNews, and a PR Pitch Model for 2023
April 18, 2023
9:51 am
Search platform TechNews last month introduced features that let users spot trends deep within tech editorial. Launched as IT Database in 2007, TechNews is widely used within tech PR to learn who is writing what.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
The Media Business Underperforms Other Industries, Badly
February 6, 2025
This is majorly tl;dr, but recent research from FT Strategies and Reuters empirically uncovers every trend there is, when it comes to the health of the media business. In short, “the media” is barely breakeven, here and around the world. AI search may prove devastating.
WSJ Launches CEO Brief Newsletter
February 6, 2025
The WSJ this week launched CEO Brief, a newsletter designed to inform readers, and to attract new members to the WSJ Leadership Institute. This organization is already a Dow Jones profit center, and a great example of how Tier 1 can lessen dependence on advertising. Former Fortune CEO Alan Murray runs the institute and is the nominal editor of CEO Brief — and promises to read every bit of reader mail — though he has delegated the writing of the newsletter to subordinates in the early going.
Lydia Dishman Joins Method Communications
February 6, 2025
Fast Company’s Lydia Dishman has joined (SWMS subscriber) Method Communications as VP of content strategy. Lydia joins an already strong content team, which includes former NY Times reporter Tim Race and B2B tech edit vet John Foley.
Next Out the Door: Forbes’s Alex Konrad
January 31, 2025
“I’m leaving to build something new,” Alex posted on X today. He spent 12 years at Forbes as a reporter and a builder of databases and lists. It’s time he gets to keep the money.
IDG/Foundry: From One Private Equity Owner to Another
January 31, 2025
Axios reported on Jan. 24 that private equity firm Blackstone will sell IDG/Foundry, publishers of InfoWorld, Computerworld and Network World (and owners of IDC) to another private equity firm called Regent, which bought streaming video channel Cheddar in 2023. Remains to be seen how the ownership change will affect IDG’s venerable IT titles, but it’s unlikely their budgets will go up.
Key Editorial Union Stands Up To AI
January 31, 2025
Unionized writers have secured new protections governing the use of generative AI in member newsrooms, reports the Hollywood Reporter. The union — Writers Guild of America, East — represents Fast Company, Wired and many other prominent titles. The union won agreement that publications “will not lay off current staff employees due to the use of generative AI,” and also that “advance notice [must be given] if the company plans to make the use of generative AI systems a requirement of [editors’] jobs.”