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SWMS Q&A: Jon Fortt, CNBC

No one interviews more CEOs than Jon Fortt. Now in his 14th year at CNBC, the TV co-anchor and podcaster enjoys interviewing founders too. Jon likes to explore the minds of responsible people — fully responsible, for everything. That’s where the lessons are.

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Q&A: Timothy B. Lee, ‘Understanding AI’

You may be familiar with Timothy B. Lee’s work from The Washington Post, Vox or Ars Technica — he worked at all three. Today Tim is a Substack author well into his second year of “Understanding AI,” a fast-rising analytical newsletter on the hottest topic around.

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Q&A: Eric Savitz, EIC, General Motors

To know Eric Savitz is to like him. Friendly and smart. Versatile. The man spent 27 years in edit, the next six in PR and then returned to edit for another five. Who else has done that, or could?

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SWMS Dossier: Jane Thier, Fortune

At 27, she is one of the important Tier 1 journalists in the business. Important certainly to SWMS readers, because no one writes more CEO profiles than Brooklyn resident Jane Thier.

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Dossier: Ken Yeung, VentureBeat

Ken Yeung has returned to VentureBeat to cover AI as a contributing writer and editor. Tech PR veterans may remember Ken as a VB staff writer in 2015 and 2016. Now he is back. Knowing all about the fast-paced culture VB founder Matt Marshall has built.

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SWMS Q & A: Jared Council, Journalist

Jared Council is one of a kind. Yes, he covered AI for the WSJ, which is sort of a conventional thing for a good reporter to do. Then things changed. Jared blended what he did with who he was deep inside.

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FRIDGE NOTES

SWMS Predictions for 2025

No “predictions” post will appear on this site. That said, quite a number of subscribers have asked for a Zoom/MS Teams presentation on what 2025 will bring. A conversation is precisely the right tool for the job. After the election — and with AI transforming publishing and life — “2025” is best discussed among peers, not predicted. So if you’d like to have a confidential group exchange on what stands to unfold, and why, and how comms pros can come out on top in spite of it all, drop a line and we shall schedule something.

Talk About Confidentiality…

According to Adweek, Omnicom CEO John Wren and IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky were in merger talks for eleven and a half months before the transaction was announced this week. Amazing that it didn’t leak.

Introducing ‘SWMS Sound Thinking’

Should PR pros stop visiting X, with all its lies and hate? It’s only going to get worse. Or are tidbits from targets too important to walk away from? Click here to watch tech edit vet David Strom and I disagree (at high speed) about this, as one compelling visual after another pops up on your screen. In 2025, SWMS will officially launch “SWMS Sound Thinking,” designed to be “argumentative insight in six minutes or less.” Each segment will explore a timely and controversial topic of interest to tech comms pros. This prototype runs 5:25. Hope you enjoy it — feedback vital and welcome! –Sam

The ‘AI Fantasy Draft’ From Eric Newcomer

At this time last year, Eric Newcomer and his two podcast co-hosts — Max Child and James Wilsterman — each formed an “AI startup fantasy team” and picked five AI startups to seed their rosters. We’re now in year 2 and it’s time to draft again. The podcasters wonder… which startups do they dump? Which do they add? The player whose startups accumulate the most total value by Nov. 1, 2028 is the winner, so there’s plenty of time to make adjustments. Here’s a link to the AI fantasy team podcast — you may need a password. Not sure.

How Do We Read?

This timeless explainer — a powerful blend of visuals and text — will explain the psychology of how we read, as in, how does the mind actually work? Hats off to Message Labs, the producer.

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For subscriptions and other inquiries, please Contact Sam.