When Swisher ruled the tech news field

Evan Ramstad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes about technology journalist Kara Swisher and her clout covering the industry.

Ramstad writes, “No business journalist in this generation has carried more clout within the industry they cover than Swisher. On Tuesday, speaking in downtown Minneapolis to promote the book, she described how she became both loved and hated by some of the wealthiest and most influential people in American business.

“‘I tended to separate the adults from the man-boys,’ Swisher told the audience at Westminster Presbyterian Church. ‘You don’t need to be childish to invent things.’

“For 15 years, Swisher and I were part of the 40-or-so person team covering the technology industry at the Wall Street Journal. I was based in Dallas and then in Asia, far from the core group in San Francisco that included Swisher. Still, I’d have a nice addition to my retirement account if I was given $1 for every time someone asked me to be introduced to Swisher or Walt Mossberg, the Journal’s first — and legendarily scrupulous — tech product reviewer.

“While I was covering the PC war between Dell and Compaq in the late 1990s, Swisher recognized that power was rapidly shifting away from manufacturing companies to newcomers focused on the internet, like Netscape, Yahoo and America Online.”

Read more here.