The Critical Turn in Technology Coverage

Question 1: How is the nature of technology coverage changing? How do technology reporting and technology criticism relate to one another?

This section takes up the question of how technology coverage has evolved during the last two decades. It also explores the question of how technology reporting and technology criticism relate to one another. I trace the evolution of technology coverage using two key turning points in the last two decades of public discourse on technology and society. These moments elevated the importance of the media’s coverage of technology and brought it to a wider audience. The first moment was the debut of the iPhone in 2007. The second was Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations on the massive system of surveillance underway in the United States. The former brought new meaning to the idea of personal technology by placing computers in everyday consumers’ pockets. The latter made citizens aware of the potential for technology’s use as a means of social and political control.