Michelle has been a journalist for Newsfactor Network, where she reported on daily technology news as it broke, and procured analyst and industry expert comments, all before 11 AM. Since 1995, she has been a regular contributor to Interface Tech News, where she created the popular Interface Interview — a Q&A column with CEOs and community personalities — and contributed features, profiles, interviews and news stories. She often wrote the “Industry Update” feature, which identified trends and took the pulse of particular technology sectors.
She has also served as editor for two monthly publications, including the Midcoast Business Monthly, where she worked with a staff of writers and balanced current news with lively copy. She continues to write for publications that parse industry trends and impart useable information. She sat down with a colleague to answer some questions about the job of writing about business and technology.
What’s the most important thing about for the business press?
The important thing is to think like a reader. For trades and business publications especially, the audience turns everything to use. What information can I use? How can I use this? What problem does it solve? Business people want to run their business better and make money.
What is the most challenging thing about writing about technology?
The challenge can be distilling complex processes into clear, readable text. Technology writing implies a skill at understanding the workings of complex companies, and doing it fast. That means penetrating the often abstract, jargonized “PR” explanations for what they do, something that was epidemic during the dot-com boom.
What’s your advice on sources?
Know how to track down the right sources, and ask the right questions. Probe, remain flexible in your mode of interviewing, and understand you are there to serve the reader, not the interviewee. Playing “gotcha” is not my idea of cultivating good sources, but at the same time, you are there to serve the integrity of the publication and interest of the reader. You know, as a journalist yourself, about the “pyramid approach” to getting information. The best part about tracking down sources is getting those different perspectives. So many times I think I’m listening to credible, objective, benign information from a source, and I find out after one more phone call that what I’ve just heard is not true for everyone at all. Finding that out is part of our job.
