So long, George, and thanks
Monday, April 29th, 2002Friday was George Shirk’s last day as editor in chief of Wired News after four years. George and his wife Jean are starting a local publication in the Mammoth Lakes region, away from Bay Area zaniness.
It’s a good time for transition, he says, but still: Having been with Wired News off and on since it was just a few prototype drawings back in 1996, I saw the boost George gave WN when he arrived in ‘98.
“All news is local,” he said back then. George refocused Wired News as the local news of people sharing the Internet experience, rather than trying to fit traditional industry categories. If Wired News resembles Daypop more than CNET at times, it’s intentional.
Most recently, George began carrying feature stories from the current onstand issue of Wired magazine for free, at a time when other publishers are locking up pages and charging for them. I’m sure this seems like an obvious move to the blog-reading demographic, but it only took five years to happen.
Anyway, so long and thanks for all the hits, George.
