Walter S. Mossberg

Source

Journalist Walter Mossberg writes the weekly Personal Technology column in The Wall Street Journal. He began working for the WSJ in 1970 and covered American and international affairs until he changed his focus to reviewing personal technology in 1991. Mossberg's reasoning behind writing the column was that "...All the columns at the time were geeks writing for geeks… The tone was invariably very condescending toward normal people. Either you were a dummy or you became a techie." Mossberg's debut column began: "Personal computers are too hard to use, and it's not your fault."

Walter Mossberg has been called "a champion of the technology to befuddled Everyman" and "the most powerful arbiter of consumer tastes in the computer world today" by Newsweek Magazine, "the most influential computer journalist", by Time Magazine and Brill's Content Magazine considers him to be one of the 25 most influential people in the US news media. In 1999 Mossberg received the Loeb Award For Commentary for his Personal Technology column.

In addition to Personal Technology, Mossberg also authors Mossberg's Mailbox, another weekly personal technology column in the Wall Street Journal where he responds to readers' questions and is a contributing editor of Smart Money, the Wall Street Journal's monthly magazine in which he writes the Mossberg Report column. In addition to writing about personal technology, Walter Mossberg is a technology commentator for the CNBC television network and Digital Duo, the public television program.

Last updated: June 16, 2004.

• Born: 27 March 1947
• Birthplace: Providence, Rhode Island
• Best Known As: Creator of the Wall Street Journal column "Personal Technology"

Name at birth: Walter Stephen Mossberg

A self-described "anti-techie technology writer," Walt Mossberg writes the influential weekly column "Personal Techology" for The Wall Street Journal. Mossberg joined the newspaper in 1970 and covered national and international affairs as a reporter until launching the weekly column in 1991. Mossberg's enthusiasm for simplicity in computers, software, cell phones, and gadgets of all kinds has made him one of the most influential columnists in the wired world. Newsweek called him "a champion of the technology-befuddled everyman" in 1997, and Wired said in 2005, "Few reviewers have held so much power to shape an industry's successes and failures." Mossberg also has written for the magazine Smart Money and appeared as a regular commentator on CNBC and The Charlie Rose Show. Under the auspices of The Wall Street Journal, he and fellow columnist Kara Swisher oversee D: All Things Digital, an exclusive annual conference on technology. (The first D conference was held in 2003; subsequent conferences have been numbered as D2, D3, and so on.) Mossberg is the author of The Wall Street Journal Book of Personal Technology (1995).

The opening line of Mossberg's first "Personal Technology" column on 17 October 1991 has become famous: "Personal computers are just too hard to use, and it isn't your fault"... Mossberg was born in Providence, Rhode Island, but grew up in the nearby town of Warwick... He attended Pilgrim High School in Warwick with actor James Woods... Mossberg has an undergraduate degree in Politics from Brandeis University (1969) and graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1970.

Walter Mossberg
Walt Mossberg (L) with Steve Jobs (R) at All Things Digital 5 in 2007
Born	March 27, 1947 (1947-03-27) (age 62)
Occupation	Columnist

Walter S. Mossberg (born March 27, 1947) is an American journalist who is the principal technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 References 4 External links

Early life

He is a native of Warwick, Rhode Island, born into a Jewish family, and graduated from Brandeis University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Career

Mossberg has been a reporter and editor at the Wall Street Journal since 1970. He is based in the Journal's Washington, D.C., office, where he spent 18 years covering national and international affairs before turning his attention to technology. His Personal Technology column has appeared every Thursday since 1991. He also edits the Mossberg Solution column each Wednesday (authored by his colleague, Katherine Boehret), and writes the Mossberg's Mailbox column on Thursdays. He appears weekly on the Fox Business Network, and in web video reports, and used to provide commentary in a segment on PC World's Digital Duo, a computer program airing on PBS stations.

In 1999, Mossberg became the only technology writer to receive the Loeb award for Commentary. In 2001, he won the World Technology Award for Media and Journalism and received an honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Rhode Island.^[1] Mossberg is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers on information technology. In 2004, in a lengthy profile, Wired called him "The Kingmaker", saying "[f]ew reviewers have held so much power to shape an industry's successes and failures."^[2] He is also reported to be the highest paid journalist at the Journal.^[3]

In partnership with his fellow Journal columnist Kara Swisher, Mossberg created, produces and hosts the Journal's annual D: All Things Digital conference in Carlsbad, CA, in which top technology leaders, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, appear on stage without prepared remarks, or slides, and are interviewed by the two columnists.^[4] Mossberg and Swisher also co-edit the All Things Digital web site, which includes his columns, her blog and other posts. The site is at allthingsd.com [1].

References

1. ^ http://allthingsd.com/about/walt-mossberg/
2. ^ Deutschman, Alan (May, 2004). "The Kingmaker: Walt Mossberg makes or breaks products from his pundit perch at a little rag called The Wall Street Journal". Wired. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.05/mossberg.html?pg=1. Retrieved 2007-05-08. 
3. ^ Auletta, Ken (2003-11-03). "Family Business: Dow Jones is not like other companies. How long can that go on?". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/031103fa_fact4?031103fa_fact4. Retrieved 2007-05-08. "...Mossberg is the paper’s highest-paid writer, earning, with bonuses, about five hundred thousand dollars a year; beginning reporters earn about forty-four thousand dollars, and senior correspondents as much as a hundred and forty thousand dollars." 
4. ^ "D: All Things Digital The Wall Street Journal Executive Conference". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. http://d.wsj.com. Retrieved 2007-05-08. 

• Auletta, Ken (2007-05-14). "Critical Mass: Everyone listens to Walter Mossberg.". The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/05/14/070514fa_fact_auletta. Retrieved 2007-05-08. 

External links

• Walt Mossberg | AllThingsD
• D: All Things Digital

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)