Tech reporters must divide — or be eliminated

Dave Lee, a BBC tech reporter, writes on Medium about the future of his beat, and it’s not pretty.

Lee writes, “What must die out, and quickly, is the reporting of things merely because they happened via some kind of technology, with the tech as its focus.

“After all, when the president makes a phone call, what’s the story? The content of the conversation, or the fact he’s using a telephone?

“If technology journalists are to survive, we need to divide firmly into two camps, never to be reunited.

“The geekiest aspects — new chips, R&D, and yes, start-ups — need to move back into the trade press.

“It means sites like The Verge need to figure out what it is for — reporting every concocted venture capital investment, or being the first draft of our digital history? Given the quality of some of its reporters, I hope the focus is on the latter.

“The technology journalists who don’t want the geeky path need to step up to the plate and start tackling the important stories involving how technology is changing our lives.”

Read more here.