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Q&A: Esther Ajao, AI Reporter, TechTarget

TechTarget news writer Esther Ajao covers AI software and systems for SearchEnterpriseAI and occasionally for SearchCustomerExperience. Until she arrived at TechTarget in Sept. 2021, Esther had valuable internships in the TV business but no tech media experience whatever.

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Q&A: Derek Thompson, The Atlantic

Derek Thompson quite literally works to save the world. A staff writer at The Atlantic, Derek oversees Progress, the 165-year-old publication’s most recent editorial franchise — and perhaps its most important ever.

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Pitch Advice from 6 at Axios

A recent edition of the new Axios Communicators newsletter offered pitch advice from five Axios reporters and a co-founder. Newsletter author Eleanor Hawkins polled her colleagues on what PR folks need to be told.

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FRIDGE NOTES

WSJ Launches CEO Brief Newsletter

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

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

“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

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

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.”

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