
Tech Columnist Walt Mossberg to Leave WSJ - gnicholas
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323308504579085663273991706.html
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rplst8
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.

~~~
auctiontheory
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.

~~~
rplst8
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.

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Steko
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-...](http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/08/27/can-rupert-
murdoch-hold-on-to-kara-swisher/)

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larrys
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.

~~~
tesseractive
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.

~~~
benologist
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.

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shawndumas
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323308504579085663273991706.html)

~~~
gnicholas
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?

~~~
bstar77
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.

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

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acjohnson55
Making room for a new face?

[http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/09/04/manjoo-joins-wall-
str...](http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/09/04/manjoo-joins-wall-street-
journal-as-technology-columnist/)

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stephenaturner
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.

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PhantomGremlin
"This is Walt Mossberg. Shut up!"

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

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xanth
But who will report for the apple fan-boy.

~~~
lnsignificant
Gruber?

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nateabele
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).

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

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

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

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

