(Late 1995)
After helping a tiny group of entrepreneurs launch Salon, I was invited over to tour the headquarters of Wired magazine by one of the magazine's editors who knew me from my years teaching at U-C Berkeley.
The magazine’s office culture was casual with cubicles, computers, rock music playing in the background and a few dogs lounging around.
But the real attraction lay on the other side of a common kitchen area where HotWired — the online side of Wired magazine was located.
It was a striking scene. Row after row of 20-somethings sat working on laptops perched on doors balanced over sawhorses, with the Chili Peppers blasting and a whiff of marijuana in the air. A couple of my former interns stood up to greet me and showed how they were designing content for a wide range of websites.
Right after I left the office, I made a call home to say, "I've just found the next place I want to work."
Several weeks later, a call came from a young HotWiredling offering me a job as producer of what would be the web's first daily political news site, called The Netizen.
Although the starting salary was barely half what I'd previously been making, and I did have the needs of a new family at home to consider, I accepted the offer without hesitation and said I could start the next day.
On day one, I was introduced to a small staff of producers and designers with hardly any journalism experience. But they were smart, highly motivated and ready to invent something cool.
I immediately hired two of the brightest young journalists (and former students) I knew from Berkeley and set out to work with the engineering team -- the head of which was a former colleague from Mother Jones, and we set a crash course to build The Netizen.
We launched the website in something like 28 days.
It was a presidential election year, so we hired three experienced political writers as our correspondents and they fanned out across the campaign trail to cover the re-election effort of incumbent Bill Clinton and his Republican challengers, including the eventual nominee, Bob Dole.
I had been assured complete editorial independence for the operation, and it quickly attracted a very large audience among the early adopters then flocking to the web. Day after day we published smart, snarky takes from all sides of the political spectrum with a decidedly libertarian streak, in accordance with the dominant philosophy of Silicon Valley.
For me it was exciting -- new ideas sprouted daily, young staffers were quickly developing editorial skills, and we were able collectively to generate controversy almost without trying.
Email was still a new phenomenon, and the feedback from readers that poured in upon publication included some that were outright abusive, often misogynistic, which disturbed me and was a harbinger of things to come.
Thinking back with the benefit of hindsight, I had an early glimpse of how hate, lies and conspiracies might flourish in this new environment, but I didn’t know what to do about that.
Free speech was free speech, I told myself somewhat naively. And outside of the negative stuff, I liked the chaotic two-way communication cacophony of the web.
Our readers blasted off at our writers in ways traditional journalism never had tolerated. Those of us from “legacy media” were used to being the last word on a topic. In this new media, we were only the first. It was a conversation, not a broadcast.
Everyone handled it in relatively good spirits at The Netizen as we quickly rocketed into position as one of the leading news sites on the web.
If I was the pilot, it felt like I was guiding a ship into open space, destination unknown.
(To be continued)
HEADLINES:
The Bureau of Labor Denial (WSJ)
Trump stokes conspiracies about jobs data, as White House defends firing BLS chief (CNBC)
Trump has already put in motion his next effort to subvert upcoming federal elections in 2026 and 2028. This time the call is coming from inside the White House — and that should scare you more than anything. [HuffPost]
'Vote him out!': Town hall erupts in anger at Nebraska GOP congressman over Trump megabill, policies (ABC)
Texas House Republicans vote to issue civil arrest warrants for fleeing Democrats (WP)
Texas Republicans say 'hunt down' Democrats who are leaving state over redistricting (ABC)
The vast majority of US adults are stressed about grocery costs (AP-NORC)
China is winning the trade war Trump started (WP)
Videos of Israeli hostages in Gaza increase pressure on Netanyahu for a ceasefire (NPR)
Israel’s Last Chance (Atlantic)
State Department may require visa applicants to post bond of up to $15,000 to enter the US (AP)
Russia warns against threats after Trump repositions nuclear submarines (WP)
A top aide to President Donald Trump accused India of effectively financing Russia's war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, after the US leader escalated pressure on New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. (Reuters)
Trump Smashed an Obama Legacy Item—Harming Many and Pleasing Few (The
The Pentagon’s New Isolationism (Atlantic)
The inside story of the Murdoch editor taking on Donald Trump (Guardian)
Zuckerberg fired the fact-checkers. We tested their replacement. (WP)
Los Angeles County has a new task taking care of dogs and cats after their owners were detained or deported in immigration raids that picked up this summer under the Trump administration. From June 10, the county has taken in 28 animals, 22 of whom are dogs. (Reuters)
The AI job cuts are accelerating (Financial Times)
How Small Business Can Survive Google’s AI Overview (Forbes)
Big Tech’s hefty AI spending is reshaping the slowing economy (WP)
Study: More Americans Converting To Mormonism In Hopes Of Getting Hulu Series (The Onion)
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