Tech Writer Leaves Gray Lady for a Yahoo!

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After 13 years of writing about gadgets and advancements in technology in his wildly popular State of the Art column and Pogue's Posts blog, David Pogue is leaving The New York Times to join Yahoo!, according to articles by the Associated Press and Forbes.com.

Pogue will maintain both of those features at Yahoo!, and also will continue to contribute to Nova on PBS, the CBS Morning News and Scientific American magazine. The promise of editorial freedom and the prospect of reaching 800 million readers a month attracted Pogue to Yahoo! AP viewed the move as reflective of Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer's master plan to bring higher quality content to the Internet company's Web site.

Bad news for the Gray Lady, which also lost popular statistics wizard and election prognosticator extraordinaire Nate Silver to ESPN last July. Pogue and the Times clashed over the latter's conflict of interest prohibitions and Pogue's lucrative speaking engagements (see "TUOL" post 7/7/11).

According to the Associated Press, Pogue has 1.5 million followers on Twitter, which is only 1,499, 691 more than "TUOL."

Tech Scribe Pogue Remains a Godsend to NY Times Public Editors

Image via WikipediaArthur Brisbane, The New York Times public editor, has posted on the Gray Lady's blog that henceforth, its technology columnist, freelancer David Pogue, will run his agent's proposed speaking engagements past his Times editor.

In an Email he sent to Brisbane, Pogue apparently has sworn off speechifying to public relations groups, such as Ragan Communications, which recently compensated Pogue for a live virtual event carrying a $159 price tag entitled "Pitch me baby!" Pre-recorded video presentations by Pogue at the event included "Pogue's Five Pitch pet peeves'" and "what you should NEVER do when pitching a reporter."

The Times imposes strict ethics guidelines on staffers prohibiting their involvement in for-profit PR workshops that imply privileged access to the press. Because Pogue is a freelance contributor, however, he will only be subject to the Times standards when writing for the daily.

Brisbane's predecessor as Times Public Editor, Clark Hoyt, took Pogue to task in 2009 for his non-Times activities that he believed posed a conflict of interest. Pogue is the author of the Missing Manual series of books and a technology correspondent for CNBC and CBS News Sunday Morning, among his many diversions.