The changing face of technology journalism

Ricardo Bilton of Digiday writes about how some technology publications are shifting what they cover.

Bilton writes, “Wired’s design emphasis is emblematic of a larger shift by technology publishers, which are stretching their coverage far beyond their initial editorial mandates. Mashable was founded in 2005 to cover social media news; today, it’s covering entertainment, science and even international stories. Business Insider began life in 2009 as Silicon Alley Insider, an East Coast answer to TechCrunch. Now, it has verticals across everything from tech to business to politics to sports. In a similar vein, Vox Media’s technology site, The Verge, has expanded its focus beyond just tech to cover movies, television shows and even general news stories.

“‘Every story is a technology story; every technology story is a culture story,’ wrote Verge editor Nilay Patel in July.

“Some of these pivots haven’t been entirely seamless. Last year, Gawker technology site Gizmodo hired BldgBlog founder Geoff Manaugh to be its editor-in-chief. Manaugh said that he wanted Gizmodo to ‘push what technology means’ away from pocket gadgets and more toward coverage of cities and government. Manaugh, however, proved to be a poor fit for Gizmodo and was replaced a year later. Gizmodo’s design and architecture coverage, however, remains untouched.”

Read more here.