New York Magazine:
Swisher’s power derives from her reporting — driven, in turn, by her deep sourcing — and from the sense, unnerving to executives, that she has a red phone with a direct connection to the perma-class of venture capitalists on Sand Hill Road who fund their companies and fill their boards and decide their fates.
People like talking to Swisher.
Interesting profile. I’ve talked to Swisher on several occasions and she is, in the simplest terms, “intense”. In a good way.
She’s certainly not shy about interrupting c-level interviewees while they bloviate. I like that.
She is certainly one of the few “real” journalists working in the Tech Media.
Remember when more of them were like that?
Sadly, yes.
Kara Swisher is like Steve Jobs in that they both are/were people with lots of power in Silicon Valley who don’t fit the typical nerd-uber-alles profile where anything new that has blinking lights is considered great just because it is new and has blinking lights. Both of them can look past the novelty of some new technology or company and ask what is this actually good for? What does it really change? Who is going to be helped by that or hurt by it?
Steve Jobs was also well-liked and at the same time, feared. I think it is because there is so much fantasy in Silicon Valley that people there have to respect someone with a great BS detector. Like they are a safe port in a storm of BS.
To some extent, I agree. But she is also one of the best self-promoters in tech media as well, which is a big part of her reputation as a “real journalist.”
“one of the best self-promoters in tech media…”
How so?