I want to tell some of the backstory of this NBC deal that isn’t captured in all of today’s headlines and stories. So here goes, my first long post! In some ways, this is the anti-AI business story. It's about a professional relationship between two humans that's spanned more than a decade. In 2013, Rebecca Blumenstein (@RBlumenstein) hired me at The Wall Street Journal. Not everyone was convinced I was the right person to replace Walt Mossberg. Rebecca interviewed me, believed in me and became one of my biggest advocates. She left the Journal two years later, but by then we'd already built something—we’d talk about stories, the changing media landscape, interview techniques, etc. She remained my mentor. We'd have dinner or drinks. We both stayed committed to keeping in each other's lives. At some of those dinners over the last few years, we started talking about what I wanted to do next. How I’d outgrown The Wall Street Journal and wanted to build something of my own, but how much I still loved working in a big newsroom and still believed in the power of a mainstream news outlet to reach the everyday people who are confused, curious or just a little scared of new technology. After months of working on it together, we came up with something new. A model that bridges what I want to do as an independent journalist at my new company, New Things, with the ambitious journalism, power and reach of NBC News. AI is changing business in enormous ways. It's letting me build one right now at record speed. But we all have Claudes, ChatGPTs and Geminis now. What every young journalist and professional really needs is a Rebecca.
