Timothy B. Lee will lead The Washington Post’s new tech blog, to be called The Switch. Brian Fung and Andrea Peterson will join as reporters. Tech reporters Hayley Tsukayama, Cecilia Kang and Craig Timberg will also contribute.
Reached by phone, Lee said the blog would strive to appeal to both the tech and policy communities. “We’re really trying to build a blog that’s interesting to and credible to both those audiences,” he said. The goal is to “make each world understandable and accessible to the other.”
The site’s editorial structure is modeled on Wonkblog, which Lee joined recently from Ars Technica, with the aim of spending a few months learning the ropes before launching The Switch. The new blog will help readers “go deeper into tech news stories of the day,” he said. “When we have the opportunity, of course, we’ll try to break news, but I think the meat of it will be explaining the day’s and the week’s tech news to help people understand what’s at stake.”
Wonkblog Editor Ezra Klein has “really found the formula for making Web journalism work” at a large publication, Lee said. “Hopefully we can take some of the magic with us.”
Here’s the Post’s public announcement; here’s the full memo to staffers:
We have an exciting announcement about a new venture for the Post.
Next Monday, July 29, we’ll launch The Switch, the definitive online destination for news, analysis and insight about tech policy. The new blog will have a heavy dose of Wonkblog sensibility as it drives the conversation in areas where Washington and Silicon Valley overlap.
Anchored by Timothy B. Lee, The Switch will aim to be indispensable to telecom lobbyists and IT professionals alike, while also being compelling and provocative to the average iPhone-toting commuter. Look for in-depth coverage of NSA surveillance, patent trolls, broadband networks, Bitcoin, the latest mobile devices and much more.
Tim will be joined by two new hires that bring a strong mix of energy and expertise: Brian Fung and Andrea Peterson, who both start with us on Monday, July 22.
Andrea is joining us from ThinkProgress, where she led technology policy coverage. Before that her work also appeared in Slate and Science Progress, and she managed social media and online metric tracking for the Center for American Progress. She also previously worked in communications at a non-profit focusing on gender equality in the political sphere, on various campaigns, and as a constituent services staffer for former U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore. Andrea is a graduate of the University of Kansas, where she studied political science and East Asian languages and cultures. She looks forward to a friendly basketball rivalry with Mizzou fans at The Post. She is about to move to LeDroit Park with her boyfriend Matt, an economic researcher at The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Brian comes to the Post via the Atlantic Media Company, where he spent the past year and a half helping to launch Quartz, the company’s new online business publication; editing the health and international channels at TheAtlantic.com; and covering tech for its sister site, National Journal. Brian holds a Master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics, which he attended after graduating from Middlebury College in 2010. He speaks four languages and his writing has appeared in Talking Points Memo, The American Prospect and Foreign Policy.
In addition to the regular bloggers, The Switch will feature contributions from our outstanding tech reporters. Hayley Tsukayama’s widely followed writing about consumer tech; Cecilia Kang’s definitive coverage of the telecom industry and online social issues; and Craig Timberg’s insightful writing about big tech companies and privacy and security issues will all help make The Switch an absolute must-read.
Marty Kevin Greg
