If you’ve been online and come across any tech journalism in the last 30 years, then you might have heard of Kara Swisher. Swisher has spent over three decades reporting on Silicon Valley’s biggest stories and even bigger egos. She also happens to be an unofficial Alexander McQueen skull scarf advocate.
Swisher is the host of On with Kara Swisher and co-host of Pivot alongside Scott Galloway. She’s also an editor-at-large at New York Magazine, a CNN contributor, and the co-founder of Recode. She co-created the Code Conference, an event that has put tech’s most powerful leaders in the hot seat.
Swisher started covering tech in the early ‘90s at The Washington Post, where, as the youngest reporter in the newsroom, she was handed what many saw as the least desirable beat: digital media. “So when the digital-media start-ups appeared, I got what many reporters looked at as the short end of the beat. They had no interest in understanding the massive changes that were happening. As I learned more, it often fell to me to explain what this newfangled internet was as if I were trying to explain a tree to a child.”
That supposed “short end of the beat” ended up defining her career. Swisher quickly recognized that the future was digital. She soon moved to The Wall Street Journal, where she launched Boom Town, a column documenting the people and culture of the high-tech gold rush.
In 2007, went on to co-found AllThingsD with Walt Mossberg. More than just a tech publication, AllThingsD was an extension of the D: All Things Digital Conference, where Swisher and Mossberg sat down with the biggest names in tech—including Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Larry Ellison.
But Swisher wasn’t interested in just reporting on the industry; she wanted to challenge it. After parting ways with Dow Jones in 2013, she and Mossberg launched Recode, an independent tech journalism site that wasn’t afraid to scrutinize Silicon Valley’s growing power. A year later, Vox Media acquired Recode, solidifying Swisher’s status as one of the most influential voices in tech.
By the mid-2010s, Swisher had already cemented her legacy in digital media, but her next frontier was audio. She launched Recode Decode, a podcast where she continued her signature no-holds-barred interviews. This later evolved into Pivot, her wildly popular podcast with Scott Galloway, where the two dissect tech, business, and politics with brutal honesty and the occasional eyeroll.
Her impact extended beyond the tech world, too. From 2018 to 2022, she was a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where she tackled Big Tech’s unchecked power, AI’s ethical dilemmas, and the industry’s glaring lack of accountability. She also hosted Sway, a podcast focused on power and influence, and in true Swisher fashion, she brought that expertise to HBO’s Succession companion podcast, where she unpacked the show’s corporate chaos with the same sharp analysis she applies to real-life media moguls.
In 2024, Swisher published Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, a memoir-meets-tech-exposé that chronicles the industry’s meteoric rise and the recklessness of its leaders. Pulling from decades of firsthand reporting, she lays out how Silicon Valley’s biggest figures went from scrappy disruptors to some of the most powerful—and, at times, destructive—forces in modern history. The book offers an unfiltered look at the industry’s triumphs, failures, and its ongoing struggle with accountability.
Over the years, Swisher has interviewed nearly every major player in tech. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Sundar Pichai. And it’s not just tech. She’s interviewed political figures like Nancy Pelosi, Stacey Abrams, and Pete Buttigieg.
She’s also made her mark on pop culture, appearing as herself on HBO’s Silicon Valley and The Simpsons. And in case there was any doubt about her ability to make billionaires uncomfortable, she once publicly considered running for office in San Francisco.
What sets Swisher apart—aside from her unwavering commitment to the Alexander McQueen skull scarf—is her sharp, unfiltered reporting and refusal to play the access journalism game. While others chase tech’s next big promise, Swisher is the one asking the hard questions, cutting through the noise, and reminding Silicon Valley that no amount of disruption excuses bad behavior.
Additional Readings & References
“I’ll Walk Away From Anything”: Kara Swisher Calls the Shots
Kara Swisher Is Sick of Tech People, So She Wrote a Book About Them
Kara Swisher on Why Tech Bros Are So Childish
Over Three Decades, Tech Obliterated Media My front-row seat to a slow-moving catastrophe.
Kara Swisher’s Bluesky
