Tech Columnist Walt Mossberg to Leave WSJ(online.wsj.com)

48 pointsby gnicholasvor 13 Jahren27 comments

online.wsj.com

Tech Columnist Walt Mossberg to Leave WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323308504579085663273991706.html

10 comments

rplst8vor 13 Jahren

I've never been a fan of Mossberg or Swisher. I think their interviews of tech icons, lack insight into the fundamentals of technology, which is evident in their questions and followups. I actually think there is still a pretty big hole for quality tech journalism. Ars Technica used to be a lot better than it is now, but has fallen prey to the press release and tech media buzz news cycle, much like Engadget and others. Though, I do appreciate their continued coverage of tech privacy, policy, and law issues - which is lacking nearly everywhere else.

Technology and how it affects our lives is a huge nebulous topic, which grows larger each year. I hope some sort of real journalism takes root to provide meaningful insight, investigation, and commentary/opinion.

auctiontheoryvor 13 Jahren

I used to not like Mossberg because he doesn't understand technology, and because he gave low ratings to the products I worked on, which were challengers rather than market leaders.

Over time I've come to realize that he did a pretty good job of understanding and speaking to his audience of non-techie businesspeople, whose priority is to find something that "just works," regardless of hardware specs or technical elegance.

Mossberg readers don't tend to be HN readers, but they do represent a much larger market.

rplst8vor 13 Jahren

I can't argue with your conclusion... But that misses the point that their (Mossberg and Swisher) brand is called "All Things Digital". It's trying to be tech press, when it's really just journalism for non-techies about tech.

I probably dislike the pair for the same reason my wife who is a physician dislikes the "medical corespondents" on the major news networks.

In any case, I see their coverage as cheesy and irrelevant to actual technophiles.

Stekovor 13 Jahren

Felix Salmon last month with an appreciation of Kara/AllThingsD and some insight into the neogtiations:

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/08/27/can-rupert-...

larrysvor 13 Jahren

Essentially Mossberg and Kara Swisher needed the WSJ affiliation more than WSJ now needs them. Should be interesting to see how much power they wield going forward.

tesseractivevor 13 Jahren

To whatever degree the Journal made the decision, I expect it was either over cost or over their desire to have more control over their own technology coverage.

ATD has a pretty huge following, and I can't imagine that they will have any trouble driving plenty of traffic and/or signing up a new partner without the Journal.

benologistvor 13 Jahren

ATD are a pretty big brand at least in startups now, they've been visibly out-scooping TechCrunch et al all year - all the Yahoo stuff including Tumblr broke through them, Google's massive investment in Uber, Rakuten's $200m acquisition of Viki etc.

shawndumasvor 13 Jahren

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...

gnicholasvor 13 Jahren

Thx for the non-paywalled link—you can see why Mossberg & team might look forward to parting ways with the WSJ.

If a tree falls in a paywalled garden, does it make a sound?

bstar77vor 13 Jahren

You can take advantage of google's first click free to read the article in its entirety. Just search for the headline in google and voila, the tree will smack you in the face.

Stekovor 13 Jahren

My error prone memory says this always worked in the past but I've had it fail a few times recently so ymmv.

acjohnson55vor 13 Jahren

Making room for a new face?

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/09/04/manjoo-joins-wall-str...

stephenaturnervor 13 Jahren

Interesting. Seems from the link they don't own AllthingsD even though it's very much their thing. I presume they'll be negotiating with another company to start up something new but similar. Not unlike Nate Silver leaving the Times, except he owned his brand and site so could take it all with him.

PhantomGremlinvor 13 Jahren

"This is Walt Mossberg. Shut up!"

I miss Walt Mosspuppet. The videos were very funny. I wish the guy would do more.

[deleted]vor 13 Jahren

xanthvor 13 Jahren

But who will report for the apple fan-boy.

lnsignificantvor 13 Jahren

Gruber?

nateabelevor 13 Jahren

Apropos of nothing, I just wanted to drop by and reiterate that Kara Swisher is in the running for the most obnoxious person on the planet (don't forget to cast your votes!).

I hope she dwindles into obscurity (finally).

nhebbvor 13 Jahren

I've only read a few of her pieces, and they seemed like straight up journalism. What's obnoxious about her?

m_muellervor 13 Jahren

I think her interviewing behavior is what makes people hate her that much. Watch the Bill Gates plus Steve Jobs interview to get an example. She constantly wants to push some prepared narrative rather than being open minded about what the interviewees say. Sprinkle that that with some weird, inappropriate sexual innuendo and the problem increases exponentially. Her articles may be much better, however I've never read much of her.

001skyvor 13 Jahren

What's obnoxious about her?

Anything she writes about melissa meyer...

Google it. er, no pun intended.

danilocamposvor 13 Jahren

Hunch: her temerity in possessing both opinions and a vagina at the same time.

nateabelevor 13 Jahren

Easy there, sexism police. Take a look at my reply to chad_oliver for the actual reason.

danilocamposvor 13 Jahren

Oh yes, it more than explains the over-the-top vitriol.

chad_olivervor 13 Jahren

To be honest, your behavior is rather obnoxious. It's exactly the sort of bullying behavior I left behind when I left primary school.

Let people make their own decisions about others; there's no need to spread nasty opinions.

nateabelevor 13 Jahren

Retract that comment until you can sit through the entirety of any AtD interview involving her and Steve Jobs without pulling your hair out and/or smashing things. They're the most grating pieces of 'journalism' (of any sort, let alone tech) that I have ever had the displeasure of suffering through.

mbettervor 13 Jahren

Oh, go fuck yourself.

jfoutzvor 13 Jahren

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