There has been much talk lately about print media being obviated by the speed and accessibility of citizen journalism via blogs and the Internet. If any newpaper reporter can keep up with and embrace the new media, it ought to be a technology writer. This certainly seems to be the case with Todd Bishop, business and technology journalist for the Seattle PI (Post Intelligencer).
In this 35 minute video you will get a tour of the PI news room as well as an enchanting conversation with Todd. Todd is not only savvy about the tech world but hes also the sort of guy you just cant help but like. While this entire interview is highly fascinating and immensely enjoyable, here is an overview of the conversation in case you want to fast forward to a favorite topic:
We start with an intro and tour of the newsroom. At 2:00 minutes you catch us in the middle of a talk about Andru Edwards, CEO of Gearlive Media. (I wished I had started recording sooner!) At 4:47 Todd talks about the New Media Department at the PI. At 7:00 Todd is unperturbed about the speculation that the government might try to regulate citizen journalism on blogs. Around 9:00 we have the obligatory conversation about A-list blogger, former Microsofty, and Internet celebrity, Robert Scoble. Around 11:00 minutes, Todd gives examples of bad reporting hes seen on blogs, specifically (at 12:45) the Zune rumor scandal. (Never heard of Zune? Its Microsofts mediocre attempt to compete with the iPod.) Around 14:00 Todd talks about his own blog and the freedom it gives him to cover interesting topics that might not be appropriate for a newspaper article, including the "Just Google Pizza" story (15:20) as well as the Microsoft tag cloud timeline (18:00). The interview completes with the following topics: 19:00 – on Todd's job of business reporting, 20:00 – how he got started, 24:10 – Microsoft viruses, 25:20 – the roll of communication with readers, 27:00 – Microsoft and video blogging for transparency, 29:00 – Todd's ultimate objective, to be an effective watchdog of Microsoft for the community, 30:05 – the big unanswered questions, 32:41 – Todd's biggest lesson in life.
Thank you, Todd, for being such a charming and warm individual, sharing your insider perspectives, and your earnest commitment to excellent journalism.
