Casey Newton is an American technology journalist, a former senior editor at ''The Verge'', and the founder and editor of a technology newsletter called ''Platformer''.

Career

Newton had been covering the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...

for ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'', with an interest in technology as a hobby. Kristin Go, a former coworker at ''The Arizona Republic'', invited him to work at the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...

'' to cover

tech companies A technology company (or tech company) is an electronics-based technology, technological company, including, for example, business relating to digital electronics, software, and internet-related services, such as e-commerce services. Details Accor ...

and new technology, which Newton accepted. He worked as a blogger and senior writer for

CNET ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

until 2013. Afterward, between 2013 and 2020, he covered

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

at ''The Verge'' and became a senior editor. In addition, he authored a daily newsletter called ''The Interface,'' which had grown to 20,000 subscribers. In 2020, he left to create his own newsletter on

Substack Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...

called ''Platformer''. Substack incentivized authors with advances, which Newton turned down, but accepted healthcare stipends. there were 54,000 subscribers to the free edition, with the paid subscription costing per month. Newton and a few other newsletter writers established a Discord server for all of their subscribers. Then, in late 2022, he began a technology news

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

for the ''New York Times'', called ''Hard Fork'', co-hosting with

Kevin Roose Kevin Roose is the author of three books and a technology columnist for ''The New York Times''. He wrote a book about Liberty University, an evangelical Christian university known for strict rules imposed on students. He was named on ''Forbes'' " ...

. He has been independently described by Roose as having "opinions

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

hold sway among social media executives". His reporting on the effects of content moderation on workers (resulting in

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a ...

) has led to a contracting company cutting ties with Facebook. Through his coverage of the

acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk Business magnate Elon Musk initiated the acquisition of American social media company Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. Musk began buying Twitter shares in January 2022, eventually becoming the company's ...

, at least two Twitter employees learned that they had been laid off.

Personal life

Casey Newton was born on June 19, 1980. Newton is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. He graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

in 2002 with a

Bachelor of Journalism The Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) degree is a degree awarded at some universities to students who have studied journalism in a three or four year undergraduate program. In the United States, some schools that do not award the B.J. degree instead c ...

. He lives in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Casey 1980 births American male journalists American technology journalists CNET American LGBT journalists Living people Medill School of Journalism alumni San Francisco Chronicle people The Verge