Newsbytes News Network, called "an Associated Press for tech-information junkies" was founded in May, 1983 in San Francisco, California by broadcast journalist Wendy Woods Gorski, who remained editor in chief for the 19 years. Continually published from 1983 to 2002, Newsbytes covered breaking news in consumer technology including

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...

, interactive media,

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

and cybersecurity, spanning the formative years 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 County ...

and the advent of personal computers. 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 nati ...

Company acquired Newsbytes in 1997. The archive of Newsbytes stories is currently on the Lexis-Nexis research database under the code NWSBYT Predating the Internet, Newsbytes News Network came to be considered a “boot camp“ for online journalism. Its alumni have gone on to work 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 ...

, ZDNet,

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 ...

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

, and

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 ...

. At the height of its popularity in the mid-1990s, Newsbytes was published by over 180 media outlets and produced almost 100 technology news reports daily. Its success was buoyed by enthusiasm for news about emerging technologies. Newsbytes was able to offer instantaneous delivery of technology information before the invention of the Internet.

History

Wendy Woods Gorski had the idea to create an online publication out of what she was already writing daily for her broadcast news position 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 ...

. As a reporter and editor working under the name "Wendy Woods," she compiled news leads for her assignment editors at CNN (San Francisco Bureau) and KGO-TV (ABC) in 1982 and realized these news story ideas could be of interest to the general public. These summaries included contact information for the sources. Newsbytes officially launched in 1983 as a "user publishing" feature on an online service called The Source, owned by

Reader’s Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

, based in McLean, Virginia. "Newsbytes", began to earn royalties and an audience. In its first few years, the weekly stories were written with a style that reflected television writing: succinct stories with an irreverent flair. "(Newsbytes) reflected her personality. It was, in some ways, the very first blog. It was infused with her being and when I joined her in 1985 I took that lesson to heart, putting my personality into my own work from

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

", said Dana Blankenhorn, one of the service’s early writers. By the end of the first year Steve Gold, a journalist in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England, joined the company and contributed European technology news. Gradually the service evolved from summaries to fleshed-out stories and included the work of multiple reporters in different US cities and countries. Newsbytes stories were aimed at a broad cross-section of both business and consumer users of information technology, which contributed to the service’s wide appeal. Newsbytes was advertiser-free which gave it the added advantage of public trust and objectivity in a niche industry. Newsbytes News Network soon developed a team of 19 journalists in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, and

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

. Reporters provided on-site coverage of major industry trade shows including COMDEX, CES, CeBIT, and MacWorld, focusing on the latest marketing, legal, business, and product trends. Many magazines and newspapers, including ''

The Computer Paper ''The Computer Paper'' (sometimes referred to as TCP, for a time ''HUB'', and then ''HUB-The Computer Paper'') was a monthly computer magazine that was published in Canada (both in print and online) from February 1988 until November 2008. The mag ...

'', ''Puget Sound Computer User'', ''I/O'' magazine in Japan, and the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' were keen to get their hands on computer-specific news, since all the news networks at the time only carried general news. During its nearly two decades of existence, Newsbytes News Network stories were syndicated to some 180 magazines, newspapers, newsletters, and online services worldwide. Among the largest online services were

Compuserve CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...

America Online AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...

, BIX, ZiffNet, The Information Access Co., Dow Jones News/Retrieval, PointCast, and other information providers located in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. A Toronto-based company called Clarinet prepared the wire feed for Unix systems that went directly to corporate information technologists. Weekly estimated readership reached 4.5 million. In 1987, Wendy Woods Gorski teamed with Peter P. Vekinis, an entrepreneur at the time. Peter originated the Workwriter computer package, was owner of the Technology Channel, creator of the Picosat satellite system, and designer of a C language compiler for the Amstrad 6128personal computer system. Peter and Wendy designed the content-specific format, created "push news" to clients (an unknown feature at the time). Peter devised a system where news would be delivered to the clients' remote printers, connected via modem so that breaking news would be delivered instantly. The company also expanded distribution to

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

subscriptions and

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

subscriptions. Nels Johnson, a San Francisco-based programmer, created software that allowed PC owners to process the news feed offline and display headlines or full stories. Wendy also created a weekly TV newscast for The Computer Show at a San Jose television channel. Woods also continued to be a correspondent for Computer Chronicles, a PBS program, from 1984-1990. Peter left Newsbytes in 1990 to pursue other interests and sold his share of the company to Steve Gold, an early Newsbytes contributor and co-owner.

Move to Minnesota

Wendy and husband Nick Gorski moved the company headquarters and family to Stillwater, Minnesota in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area in 1993. Newsbytes was operated out of the carriage house behind their Victorian home at 406 West Olive Street from 1993 through 2002. In the mid-90s, Steve Laliberte, also living in Minnesota and the former director of McGraw-Hill’s competing BIX service, became a Newsbytes co-owner. He created Newsbytes News Network’s website, on the emerging

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

to make subscriptions available to the general public. Innovations included 15-minute delayed quotes for the stock price of publicly held companies via links in the stories, complete keyword search of archives, and additional news feeds from The Business Wire.

Business Model

Newsbytes News Network’s financial success stemmed from events made possible by the computer revolution itself. Advantages over traditional print media were electronic distribution (no print costs), the speed of distribution (instantaneous), and a decentralized newsroom of correspondents who worked from their home offices worldwide. The company’s business model consisted of licensing the news stream, media partnerships (Ziff-Davis Publishing, McGraw Hill,

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

, Dow Jones News and Retrieval,

, Newsnet, Dialog, and Applelink), and online downloads. Through multiple media and channels, Newsbytes was distributed to a wide variety of media outlets. Newsbytes became an LLC in 1996

Sale to The Washington Post

In 1997, Newsbytes News Network LLC was sold by partners Wendy Woods Gorski (editor-in-chief), Steve Gold (UK bureau chief), Joshua Schneck (marketing director) and Steve Laliberte (technology director) to

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 nati ...

Company for an undisclosed fee. Wendy served as editor-in-chief of the publication at the Washington Post Company's Post-Newsweek Interactive division until the company discontinued the news service for financial reasons on May 31, 2002, just one year before its 20-year anniversary. At the time, the Post said the closure was due to having too many websites. "We currently publish two technology Web sites for the Washington Post Company and we are consolidating our online tech coverage," said Washtech/Newsbytes Publisher Valerie Voci at the time. Wendy said of the closure at the time that Newsbytes "was a long fun ride. I would like to think that we made a bit of the same history that we were writing about." The 150,000-plus news story archives are still available on the Lexis-Nexis database service.

Awards

Newsbytes coverage won the 1994 Dvorak Award for Outstanding Online News Service and won five annual Best Online Publication awards from the

Computer Press Association Founded in 1983, the Computer Press Association (CPA) was established to promote excellence in the field of computer journalism. The association was composed of working editors, writers, producers, and freelancers who covered issues related to comp ...

in the 1980s and 1990s.

References

{{reflist American journalism organizations Organizations based in San Francisco 1983 establishments in California