Kara Anne Swisher ( ) is an American journalist. She has covered the business of the internet since 1994. As of 2022, Swisher was a contributing editor at ''
New York'', the host of the podcast ''Sway'', and the co-host of the podcast ''Pivot.''
In 2014 she co-founded
Vox Media
Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...
's ''
Recode
''Recode'' (formerly ''Re/code'') is a technology news website that focused on the business of Silicon Valley. Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher founded it in January 2014, after they left Dow Jones and the similar website they had previously c ...
''. From 2018 to 2022, she was an opinion writer for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', before re-joining
Vox Media
Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...
. She has also written for ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
,'' ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'', the
All Things Digital conference and the online publication ''All Things D.''
A self-described "liberal, lesbian Donald Trump of San Francisco", in 2016 she expressed interest in running for political office in San Francisco.
Early life and education
Swisher lived in
Roslyn Harbor
Roslyn Harbor is a village in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the Greater Roslyn area, which is anchored by the Incorporated Village of Roslyn. The population was 1,051 at th ...
, New York until her father died when she was five years old. Afterward her family moved to
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of w ...
where she was raised.
In a 2021 interview with Bryan Elliott for
Inc. Swisher stated that, as a child, she always wanted to work either in the military, with military intelligence, or with the CIA.
She wrote for ''
The Hoya'', Georgetown's school newspaper, and later left that paper to write for ''
The Georgetown Voice
''The Georgetown Voice'' is a student-run biweekly campus news magazine at Georgetown University. Founded as a print magazine in March 1969, the ''Voice'' publishes new editions every other Friday during the academic year. The magazine publishes ...
'', the university's news magazine.
Swisher received her BS in literature and journalism from the
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) at Georgetown University in Washington D.C. in 1984. Just one year later in 1985, she received her MS in journalism from
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City.
Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism ...
.
Career
Swisher worked at the ''
Washington City Paper'' in Washington, D.C. She interned at ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' in 1986 and was later hired full-time.
''The Wall Street Journal''
Swisher joined ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' in 1997, working from its bureau in San Francisco. She created and wrote ''Boom Town'', a column devoted to the companies, personalities and culture of
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 Cou ...
which appeared on the front page of the ''Wall Street Journal's Marketplace'' section and online. During that period, she was cited as the most influential reporter covering the Internet by ''Industry Standard'' magazine.
In 2003, with her colleague
Walt Mossberg
Walter S. Mossberg (born March 27, 1947) is an American technology journalist and moderator.
From 1991 through 2013, he was the principal technology columnist for ''The Wall Street Journal''. He also co-founded ''AllThingsD'', ''Recode'' an ...
, she launched the
All Things Digital conference and later expanded it into a daily blog called AllThingsD.com. The conference featured interviews by Swisher and Mossberg of top technology executives, such as
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
,
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...
, and
Larry Ellison, all of whom appeared on stage without prepared remarks or slides.
Books
She is the author of ''aol.com: How
Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads and Made Millions in the War for the Web'', published by Times Business Print Books in July 1998. The sequel, ''There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future'', was published in the fall of 2003 by Crown Business Print Books. In 2021, it was announced that she signed a two-book memoir deal with
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publi ...
.
''Recode''
On January 1, 2014, Swisher and Mossberg struck out on their own with the ''
Recode
''Recode'' (formerly ''Re/code'') is a technology news website that focused on the business of Silicon Valley. Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher founded it in January 2014, after they left Dow Jones and the similar website they had previously c ...
'' website, based in San Francisco. In the spring of 2014 they held the inaugural Code Conference near Los Angeles.
Vox Media
Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...
acquired the website in May 2015. A month later in June 2015, they launched Recode Decode, a weekly
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 choosin ...
in which Swisher interviews prominent figures in the technology space with
Stewart Butterfield featured as the first guest.
In September 2018, Recode and Vox Media launched ''Pivot'', a semi-weekly news commentary podcast co-hosted by Swisher and
Scott Galloway.
In April 2020,
''New York'' Magazine announced ''Pivot'' would be joining the magazine's properties, subsequently dropping the Recode branding, and Swisher would also be joining as
editor-at-large
An editor-at-large is a journalist who contributes content to a publication. Sometimes such an editor is called a roving reporter or roving editor.
Unlike an editor who works on a publication from day to day and is hands-on, an editor-at-large co ...
. In May 2020, Swisher wrote on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that she had not been involved in editing or assigning stories on Recode for many years.
''The New York Times''
Swisher became a contributing writer to the ''New York Times''
Opinion
An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive, rather than facts, which are true statements.
Definition
A given opinion may deal with subjective matters in which there is no conclusive finding, or it may deal with ...
section in August 2018, focusing on tech. She has written about topics such as
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The B ...
,
Kevin Systrom's departure from Instagram, Google and censorship, and an internet Bill of Rights.
In September 2020, the ''Times'' premiered ''Sway'', a semiweekly podcast hosted by Swisher focused on the subject of power and those who wield it, with
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
featured as her first guest. Other guests have included Georgia politician and voting rights activist
Stacey Abrams,
Airbnb CEO
Brian Chesky
Brian Joseph Chesky (born August 29, 1981) is an American businessman and industrial designer. He is the co-founder and CEO of the peer-to-peer lodging service Airbnb. Chesky was named one of ''Time'' "100 Most Influential People of 2015".
Early ...
, actor
Sacha Baron Cohen, Apple CEO
Tim Cook, entrepreneur
Mark Cuban, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
, former Presidential candidate Senator
Amy Klobuchar
Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minn ...
(D-MN),
United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg
Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...
, film director
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...
,
Parler
Parler () is an American alt-tech social networking service associated with conservatives. Journalists have described Parler as an alt-tech alternative to Twitter, and users include those banned from mainstream social networks or who oppose t ...
CEO
John Matze, Georgia Secretary of State
Brad Raffensberger,
USSF CSO Gen.
John W. Raymond
John William Raymond (born April 30, 1962) is a retired United States Space Force general who served as the first chief of space operations from 2019 to 2022. The first guardian, he served as commander of the United States Space Command from 2 ...
, and social activist and celebrity
Monica Lewinsky.
Other activities
Swisher has also served as a judge
for Mayor
Michael Bloomberg's
NYC BigApps competition in New York.
Swisher told ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' writer Claire Hoffman: "A lot of these people I cover are babies", Swisher says. "I always call them papier-mâché – they just wilt."
In 2016, Swisher announced she planned to run for
mayor of San Francisco as a Democrat in 2023. She was then described as likely to run on a "highly progressive" platform.
Swisher wrote of her experiences working for ''
The McLaughlin Group'' in a 2018 ''
Slate'' article, in which she alleged that host
John McLaughlin abused staff and sexually harassed women. Reflecting on his death from prostate cancer in 2016, she wrote, "I’m so glad he’s dead. Seriously, I’m glad he’s dead. He was a jackass. He deserved it."
In January 2019, Swisher told people who disapproved of a Gillette advertisement, following the
January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation
On January 18, 2019, a confrontation between groups of political demonstrators took place near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The interaction between Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann and Native American Nathan ...
"And to all you aggrieved folks who thought this Gillette ad was too much bad-men-shaming, after we just saw it come to life with those awful kids and their fetid smirking harassing
that elderly man on the Mall: Go fuck yourselves." Citing Swisher's comment as an example of how inaccurate many media accounts of the story had been,
Caitlin Flanagan of ''
The Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' observed, "You know the left has really changed in this country when you find its denizens ... lionizing the social attitudes of the corporate monolith
Procter & Gamble." Swisher apologized in a follow-up tweet two days later.
In 2021, Swisher hosted the official companion podcast for the third season of
HBO's TV series ''
Succession
Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence.
Governance and politics
*Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...
''.
Bibliography
* ''aol.com: How Steve Case Beat Bill Gates, Nailed the Netheads, and Made Millions in the War for the Web''. New York: Random House International, 1999. ,
* Kara Swisher; Lisa Dickey ''There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for the Digital Future'' New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003. ,
Personal life
Swisher has two sons with her ex-wife, former
U.S. CTO and early Google executive
Megan Smith. She married Amanda Katz in 2020, the couple have two children.
In 2011 Swisher suffered a
"mini-stroke" while on a flight to Hong Kong, where she was subsequently hospitalized and put on
anticoagulant medication. She wrote about the experience in a remembrance of
Luke Perry, after a stroke led to his death in 2019.
Swisher is known for wearing dark
aviator sunglasses even while indoors, explaining "I have light sensitivity a little; I just don’t like bright lights."
Swisher, who was raised
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, identifies as agnostic.
Awards
* 2011
Gerald Loeb Award for Blogging for "Liveblogging Yahoo Earnings Calls in 2010 (They're Funny!)"
*2020
Fast Company Queer 50
*2021
Fast Company Queer 50
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swisher, Kara
1963 births
Living people
20th-century American women writers
All Things Digital people
American columnists
American technology writers
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
American lesbian writers
The Wall Street Journal people
The Washington Post people
Vanity Fair (magazine) people
Vox Media
American women columnists
Yahoo! people
American mass media company founders
American women company founders
American company founders
American Internet company founders
American podcasters
20th-century American non-fiction writers
Gerald Loeb Award winners for News Service, Online, and Blogging
LGBT journalists from the United States
American women podcasters
21st-century American women
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT people from New Jersey
Journalists from New Jersey
California Democrats