Washington Post national economy and business editor David Cho, deputy business editor Zachary Goldfarb and business digital editor Michelle Williams sent out the following announcement:
We are thrilled to announce that Geoffrey Fowler will be The Washington Post’s new technology columnist.
Geoff has spent the last 16 years with The Wall Street Journal and the last four writing and making videos for its influential “Personal Technology” column. He often serves as a relationship counselor for people struggling with their devices. When the iPhone turned 10 this summer, he wrote it a love letter and a hate letter — and got folks to share with him on camera whether they’d rather give up their iPhone or sex.
As part our expanding coverage of technology, Geoff will help readers navigate the confusing, occasionally scary, and deeply personal world of tech. He brings both enthusiasm and skepticism to his subject matter and a keen understanding of how the latest innovations impact ordinary people and society.
Geoff has been based in San Francisco since 2009, reporting and editing stories on startups and tech giants including Facebook, Amazon and Apple, as well as national news topics such as the battle over gay marriage. He was part of the team that won the Scripps Howard Foundation First Amendment Award for reporting on digital privacy.
From 2002 to 2008, Geoff was based in Hong Kong and China covering topics ranging from SARS to the early development of the Chinese Internet. He also covered three Olympic Games (Beijing, Vancouver and London).
He has a master’s degree in social anthropology from Cambridge University and an undergraduate degree in anthropology and Afro-American studies from Harvard University.
Raised in Columbia, South Carolina, he started writing for The State newspaper at age 10. He loves baking pies, and welcomes gifts of real southern peaches to the Silicon Valley peach wasteland. He lives in San Francisco’s Mission District with his husband.
Geoff will start on Oct. 23 and continue to work from San Francisco. He will be in the newsroom the first week of November, so please stop by and welcome him. His Facebook and Twitter handle is @geoffreyfowler.