My years at Stanford (2002-5) teaching public interest journalism were terrific. I met many young journalists who’d grown up all over the world but shared the common goal to start a career in this very difficult profession.
Meanwhile the old-school media industry was rapidly being overtaken and replaced by the new technology giants.
It was becoming clear that Google was not really a search company but a media company sucking up all the online advertising income it could find, while advertising dollars for traditional media were in steep decline.
Facebook launched and it followed the same business path as Google, vacuuming up advertising revenue based on personal data users gave away freely in order to expand their social networks.
In 2005, I rejoined the private-sector fray, at a start-up called Keep Media, where we explored the new lexicon of content surfacing, categorization, and interactivity with user-created content.
The company, which was started by entrepreneur Louis Borders, rebranded itself MyWire, but eventually met the fate of most startups — extinction.
By this point, I was resigned to the undeniable fact that my “career” had devolved into chaos. Along the way, over the years, there had been too many other projects to list, but a few of the highlights were teaching memoir-writing to boomers; acting as the interim managing editor for the Stanford Social Innovation Review; guest-editing at Business 2.0; working as an investigator for the victim families of 9/11; serving as interim editorial director at CIR; editing some investigative articles post 9/11 for The Nation; guest editing a special issue of BIG magazine and writing editorials and sitting on the editorial board of the San Francisco Examiner. And writing an ebook on startups.
In the more distant past was a decade of screenwriting and consulting in Hollywood, plus 14 years of teaching at U-C, Berkeley's journalism school. For many years, I also traveled internationally and spoke at conferences, mostly about global environmental problems. During all this time, I tried to balance the journalistic requirement to remain aloof from direct activism with my penchant to be involved in my communities in every way possible. Not an easy act to master, and I don't think I did it all that well in the end.
This long, unpredictable voyage has always been as much a private search for my writing voice as a career, and finding ways to support my family, and therefore, to be a productive member of our society.
That same quest continues in this space, unabated. At this point, all I really wish to do is become a better writer.
HEADLINES:
CNN Poll: Trump’s approval at 100 days lower than any president in at least seven decades (CNN)
At least nine killed after car driven through Vancouver street festival (BBC)
Trump, Zelenskyy hold ‘productive’ meeting at the Vatican (Al Jazeera)
Trump says a Ukraine deal is close (Reuters)
Trump doubts Putin’s willingness to end Ukraine war after Vatican meeting with Zelensky — and threatens further sanctions (Independent)
Massive explosion at Iranian port kills 14 and injures hundreds (CNN)
Vicious interpersonal conflicts among Hegseth staff cloud leak investigation (Guardian)
Congress erupts over FBI arrest of Wisconsin judge (Axios)
The Clever Court Ploy That Could Force Trump’s El Salvador Scheme to a Head (Slate)
Public isn’t buying Trump’s message about Kilmar Abrego García, polls show (WP)
Voters See Trump’s Use of Power as Overreaching, Times/Siena Poll Finds (NYT)
Federal employees find themselves without health insurance despite being told otherwise (NPR)
Video casts doubt on Ed Martin’s apology for praising Nazi sympathizer (WP)
The Untold Story of How Ed Martin Ghostwrote Online Attacks Against a Judge — and Still Became a Top Trump Prosecutor (ProPublica)
U.S. attorney for D.C. Ed Martin accuses Wikipedia of ‘propaganda,’ threatens nonprofit status (WP)
US judge sets May 2 hearing to discuss remedies in Google digital ads lawsuit (Reuters)
The Meta Trial Shows the Dangers of Selling Out (Wired)
One of the House's foremost experts on the nation's health systems breaks down the terrifying pace at which Kennedy is working to make America sick again (Rolling Stone)
Iran says 'extremely cautious' on success of nuclear talks with US (Reuters)
Son of CIA Official Was Killed in Ukraine, Fighting for Russia (WSJ)
Trump is trashing electric vehicles. China is building cars the world wants. (WP)
Study Finds Plants Increasingly Reliant On Gig Workers For Pollination (The Onion)
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