The implications of tech journalists leaving big media

Norman Birnbach writes about what will happen in the aftermath of David Pogue leaving The New York Times and Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher striking out from The Wall Street Journal at the end of this year.

Birnbach writes, “I do think Pogue, Mossberg and Swisher are replaceable in a way — I mean, we all are, after all. But I do think it will be more difficult for their replacements to establish themselves just as it will take a while for Pogue, Mossberg and Swisher (I’m not going to refer to them by an acronym).

“As it is, one can make a case that the tech reporters getting a lot of attention these days are not the tech reviewers but those who cover startups. That said, consumer tech reviewers will always be important because we need someone to tell us which device is better — the iPhone or the Galaxy.

“No matter what, I think the continuing fragmentation of the media is a lose-lose proposition for reporters, these publications and the readers.

“This fragmentation makes it more challenging to reach a mass audience. It takes more effort to reach more reporters, who themselves reach smaller audiences. (These audiences may be more engaged than traditional print newspaper readers, but they’re still harder to reach.) It takes more time to research and contact reporters…which means we need to spend more time overall to reach fewer people at a time. It’s pretty much a similar story with social media, too. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve got to reach people on different platforms — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, blogs, and forums, etc. — but it can take more time to reach increasingly niche audiences.

“That, I believe, is the point to keep in mind in terms of the implications for Pogue, Mossberg, Swisher and the rest of us.”

Read more here.