Journalism Then and Now (Or When I Was a Cub Reporter, There Was No App for That)

Note: Below is an except of an article that was originally published in PRNewser, AdWeek's publication that covers the public relations industry.

‍Who said journalism is dying? Judging by recent news, it’s just shifting. Vox Media acquired Re/code, creating a news powerhouse that includes The Verge. Meanwhile, newly shuttered GigaOm relaunched with plans for a Structure conference for October, and Buzzfeed’s Mat Honan is quietly amassing an army of (well, two dozen) journalists to add news into the clickbait mix. With the emergence of sites like The Information, Quartz and Medium, we’re seeing a renewed focus on original reporting and longform journalism after a low period where the lowest common denominator of the blogosphere seemed to be exerting undue influence on media trends.

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Journalism has changed profoundly over the past few decades. I was talking to a colleague recently after hearing Vint Cerf speak about the early days of the Internet, which I covered as a reporter in the early 1990s. I found myself falling back on the tired cliche of “back in the day,” as I do when talking about technology, journalism, Burning Man, San Francisco, my figure. Cerf helped create the Internet as a tool for academics. It’s since become the lifeblood for much of our daily lives, revolutionizing our communications and journalism in the process. Mobile, the cloud and social media have further enhanced reporting. And it all happened in what to me seems like the blink of an eye. One minute, I was using an electric typewriter for college assignments and punch cards in computer science class. The next, I’m live Tweeting news from my smartphone, taking videos on my iPad and Skyping with sources across the globe as a professional journalist.

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I’m a tech “tweener” straddling the days of print newspapers and the modern mobile era. It’s an amazing time for anyone to be alive (particularly if you’re privileged enough to live in Ground Zero of the tech revolution, like I do). I had a front row seat as a tech journalist during the giddy ‘90s when we first realized we’d reached an inflection point and the Information Age was born. But we didn’t have all the information at our fingertips, like journalists do now.

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‍Read the full article on PRNewser.