Pitching columnists is often wiser than pitching reporters because they don’t need third-parties to back up their assertions. If they believe it, they can write it. So we have assembled a list of prominent tech columnists at WSJ, NYT and Bloomberg, current as of June 2021.
VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is building what you might call its own Wired — a pro-tech media brand appealing both to consumers and business. It’s unnamed as yet, but A16Z is hiring fast. So far, at least, parts of it appear to be pitchable.
SWMS contributor Rhiannon Pacheco writes: We connected with Bloomberg consumer tech reporter Mark Gurman to explore what it would take for him to cover a less well-established company than Apple, and why he’s excited to explore (and cover) the technology that will follow the smartphone.
Cade Metz is consistent. We interviewed him in 2008, 2012 and 2015. Each time he has carried the same message: though he reports on tech, it’s always about the people. This week we checked in with Cade to discuss Genius Makers, his new book about “the mavericks who brought AI to Google, Facebook and the world.” Again with the people!
Forbes senior editor Alex Konrad gave us a metric ton of insight this month — one article just wasn’t enough. So this week we plumb the notebook of SWMS contributor Rhiannon Pacheco, who interviewed Alex earlier this month, and present the rest of Alex’s thoughtful and heartfelt advice for PR pros looking to win his attention.
Sometimes it pays to go to the top. If you’re pitching something truly conceptual — something that can make a publication look prescient in the long run — then go to the editorial board. We’ve got a list of six boards for you, with contact info.
Christopher Mims isn’t your typical Tier 1 columnist. Chris reports his theses. Coming from a science background, he surrounds his opinions with lots of evidence — much of it empirical. Given the challenges associated with pitching someone like Chris, it might be best to think of him as a proxy for all of “Tier 1.”
Few topics captivate reporters more than the future. SWMS this week studied the past two “The Future of Everything” reports in the WSJ — and a dozen stories in Fast Company’s The Shape of Tomorrow section — to identify pitch approaches that might work for you.
Are you struggling to interest Tier 1 reporters in lesser-known clients? So is Jason Calacanis. The former journalist and well-known investor and podcaster sounded off Jul. 7 to CNBC’s Jon Fortt and two other hosts about the trouble he and other VCs have had in breaking through — especially to the New York Times.
Fast Company technology editor Harry McCracken sheds light on newsgathering at physical and virtual events, and changes in FC edit coverage brought on by Covid and other factors. Interview was conducted July 2020.
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
Biz now covers “the intersection of money and Silicon Valley” for the Bloomberg Wealth section (not Brad Stone‘s team).
Twitter blew up yesterday about the WSJ’s suggestion that SVB’s problems may have stemmed from “diversity demands.” Absolutely no one should be surprised by this claim. News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch recently installed Emma Tucker as EIC, a Murdoch loyalist brought in to lead WSJ’s coverage of the 2024 elections. Says The Guardian: “Tucker will find herself having to work out how to cover a third presidential run by Donald Trump. Murdoch has… cooled on the former president and is warming to Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida who is expected to challenge Trump for the Republican nomination.”
So prepare for an onslaught of woke this and woke that from the WSJ, a publication that isn’t what it used to be, no matter how much we wish it otherwise.
Sean Michael Kerner now writes for SdXCentral… watch for his copy soon.
Owner Axel Springer must be nervous. Not a good signal from one the world’s most successful publishers. We’ll do the best we can to audit who left. Axios’s Sara Fischer broke the story.
Folks are losing their minds. It’ll come back but it won’t be free, that’s for sure.
The Verge’s Mia Sato delivers a scoop on layoffs at CNET (perhaps 10% of staff) and Connie Guglielmo‘s move from EIC to editor-at-large and senior VP of AI content strategy. (Coincidentally, Digiday today ran this story on the rise of the “chief AI officer” — sub required.)
CNET is owned by Red Ventures, which calls itself a media company, but it’s more like a shell company owned by multiple private-equity firms. CNET and ZDNet editors never unionized, which now they probably regret.
