12 Commandments from Contributed Content Gatekeepers
April 26, 2022
5:46 am
This month we studied guidelines from contributed content gatekeepers. Dozens and dozens of them.
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Analysis: A Tale of Two Fortunes
April 22, 2022
8:20 am
This is a tale of two Fortunes — “new” Fortune and “classic” Fortune, each with their own needs and culture. You’ll want to approach accordingly.
Q&A: Steve Lohr, NYT
March 30, 2022
7:31 am
If you’re younger than 43 years old, Steve Lohr was reporting for the New York Times before you were born. Imagine all the stories he has written… the interviews he has conducted… and all the pitches he has seen.
Change is Coming to 31-Year-Old ZDNet
March 4, 2022
9:22 am
Change is coming to 31-year-old ZDNet. According to EIC Jason Hiner, ZDNet is honing its focus on professionals of all sorts — not just IT pros. Its historic emphasis on B2B and IT will soon be over.
Toolkit: How Do You Get Tier 1 Coverage for Private Companies?
February 17, 2022
9:46 am
How do private companies get covered by reporters committed to cover public companies? Like anything else in PR, it’s difficult but not impossible. Here’s something of a toolkit we hope can help.
Meet The Wikipedia Whisperer, David King
December 12, 2021
8:32 am
SWMS contributor Bob Scheier writes: A company’s Wikipedia entry is often one of the first to come up in response to a Web search, and might get more exposure than its Twitter, Facebook or other social media account.
Cheat Sheet: Tech Edit Freelancers
November 3, 2021
12:16 pm
Clients want journalists to cover their press conference in Timbuktu and are willing to pay the T&E. You need last-minute help getting the e-book out the door. Where are the freelancers when you need them? Well, they’re right here in the SWMS tech edit freelancer list.
AI Will Write Your Pitches — Soon
October 17, 2021
8:39 am
Tired of writing pitches and press releases? AI writes copy these days. This month we used Copy.ai to promote the fictitious Wazoolie Pro, “a hypnotizer that convinces prospects to buy products and services they don’t need.”
Two Questions: Cade Metz, NYT
March 31, 2021
4:41 pm
Cade Metz is consistent. We interviewed him in 2008, 2012 and 2015. Each time he has carried the same message: though he reports on tech, it’s always about the people. This week we checked in with Cade to discuss Genius Makers, his new book about “the mavericks who brought AI to Google, Facebook and the world.” Again with the people!
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
Cornell Researchers: AI Writes Much of Tier 1’s Thought Leadership…
January 3, 2026
… and rarely reveals it. Roughly 45K opinion recent pieces from Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, are 6.4 times more likely to contain AI-generated content than news articles from the same publications, with many AI-flagged op-eds authored by prominent public figures. Despite this prevalence, Cornell says, “we find that AI use is rarely disclosed: a manual audit of 100 AI-flagged articles found only five disclosures of AI use.”
Tekpon Buys The Next Web from The FT
January 3, 2026
From WebPro News: Romanian software marketplace Tekpon acquired The Next Web (TNW) from the Financial Times, rescuing the tech media brand from closure.
Right-Wing Podcasts: Dare You Pitch Them?
November 24, 2025
The day is coming that you will not be able to avoid framing the targets in terms of red or blue. So far you’ve been able to do that. Those days are coming to a close: large swaths of “the audience” are headed in this direction. If you don’t believe it, read this from Bloomberg. You will never see better reporting than this.
GEO and AEO: Be Careful of What You Promise the Clients
November 19, 2025
Superb reporting from Business Insider on what comes after Google Search. All the experts quizzed. The gist: these technologies and techniques are borderline mythical at this point.
AI-Driven Security Threats: A Threat to Edit ‘Shelf Space’ Too?
November 18, 2025
In the latest installment of Sound Thinking...David Strom, a well-known IT reporter and security expert, discusses the threat of AI tricking security systems and luring them to catastrophe. What will that mean to editors? When will it happen? It’s not an if, it’s a when.
Nieman Labs 2026 Predictions for B2B Media
November 11, 2025
Good vision here from Jay Lauf. Interestingly, Jay suggests that B2B publishing will become a service business to B2B pros, providing value directly to individuals and organizations. Static content is dying very quickly. This is the point of the analysis from this great media organization.