New York Times hires WSJ’s Nicas to cover Apple

New York Times business editor Ellen Pollock and technology editor Pui-Wing Tam sent out the following announcement on Monday:

All — We’re delighted to announce that Jack Nicas will join Business Day as a technology reporter based in San Francisco, where he will cover Apple and Silicon Valley.

Jack hails from The Wall Street Journal, where he most recently covered Google from San Francisco. He joined The Journal in 2011 in its Chicago office, where he wrote about Midwestern politics, economics and natural disasters (floods were a frequent topic), before switching to cover aviation and U.S. airlines for several years. Prior to The Journal, he interned at the St. Petersburg Times and at The Boston Globe.

In his coverage of Google, Jack has examined how the company serves people answers that are often contentious or plain incorrect, profiled how former star Google engineer Anthony Levandowski helped create a self-driving war with Uber, and spent many hours watching noxious YouTube videos to identify advertisers who had unthinkingly agreed to advertise next to such content. (For his efforts, he was targeted — where else? — on YouTube.)

What also caught our eye about Jack’s work was his talent for spotting tech’s quirks, including Google’s missing free bicycles and how drone makers actually hate the word drone and instead suggested many other names (UAV or UAS or RPA, anyone?) that do not roll off the tongue.

The biggest human impact from Jack’s work may have come from a story he wrote while a senior at Boston University: a 3,700-word investigative article on the flaws of a 27-year-old arson-murder conviction that ran atop the Sunday Boston Globe. The story resulted in a judge overturning the conviction of Victor Rosario, who had been otherwise destined to spend the rest of his life in prison. Jack wrote about the experience for The New England Center for Investigative Reporting here.

Jack, a Massachusetts native, lives with his wife, Sonia, in Oakland, Calif. Living in the Bay Area has unfortunately done little to temper Jack’s admiration of New England sports teams like the Patriots, much to the chagrin of at least one of his new West Coast editors.

Please extend a warm welcome to Jack, who starts in San Francisco next month.

Ellen and Pui-Wing