Tech Columnist Walt Mossberg to Leave WSJ | Hacker News Reader

Tech Columnist Walt Mossberg to Leave WSJ

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48 pointsgnicholas27 comments

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.

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.

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.

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-...

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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

Making room for a new face?

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

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.

"This is Walt Mossberg. Shut up!"

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

But who will report for the apple fan-boy.

Gruber?

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).

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

What's obnoxious about her?

Anything she writes about melissa meyer...

Google it. er, no pun intended.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Oh, go fuck yourself.

This is the kind of clever and insightful commentary that makes me really love HN. The ability to capture a subtle and complex argument in four words is a rare gift. Some may feel you have no grasp of any of the issues at hand, and are just throwing out words in a vain effort to participate. Don't listen to those people. Treasure your sardonic wit as you would your depth of understanding of social issues and peoples' needs. If you take the time to build on your already formidable persuasive ability, you'll turn employers and investors to your way of thinking in no time.

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.

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