Everyone (in and out of tech) should be listening to Kara Swisher

There’s so much great content being created today. It’s virtually impossible to keep up with the high quality “television” shows being broadcast and streamed. (Still, do yourself a favor and watch Orange is the New Black and Chernobyl at minimum.)

It’s pretty much the same with podcasts. Fortunately, I have a reasonable amount of commuting, dog-walking, and dish-washing time to pop the earbuds in and listen. Ezra Klein of Vox is so sharp and interesting and I have developed a genuine soft spot for the NY Times journalists on The Argument. However, the podcast that I feel is fantastic and indispensable, certainly for anyone with professional or personal interests in tech, is Recode | Decode with Kara Swisher.

She has been a leading journalist covering technology for quite a long time, but somehow I never read or listened to her regularly. Perhaps on account of her new opinion gig at the Times, I started paying more attention and now I see I’ve been missing out. She knows the tech scene and the people in it, and just as importantly, she is one of the few people inside the tech community – which has always had a lot of cheerleading around it, including journalist cheerleaders – who is willing to criticize and call BS on tech businesses and entrepreneurs. She often gets major figures on her show and will challenge them directly, as is appropriate and needed. It’s refreshing.

Given the importance of the tech behemoths in our culture right now, it is important to understand both what is great and innovative about these businesses but also, what is dark and dangerous. Let Kara Swisher be your guide. A list of shows is here.

Categorised as: Current events, News and Views