Mike Magee (journalist): Difference between revisions
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==Career== |
==Career== |
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Mike Magee is one of the more colourful members of the IT community. He worked for VNU Business Publications on ''PC Dealer'' before becoming involved with that organisation's initial attempts at placing IT news on the Internet -- the VNU Newswire. He left the Newswire to pioneer what was to become the UK's first Internet based IT tabloid, ''The Register'' which he founded with [[John Lettice]] in 1994. It started as a news letter with Magee specialising in writing about computer chips, and John Lettice, who mostly covered software. |
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He is a well known figure in the IT industry, having being one of the pioneers of the internet news and gossip format. He is friendly with [[Anand Shimpi]] of [[AnandTech]] and [[Thomas Pabst]] of [[Tom's Hardware Guide]], both of whom helped in the early days of ''[[The Inquirer]]'' by referring to his articles. After co-founding ''The Register'' with [[John Lettice]], Magee worked for Dutch-based publishing group [[VNU]] in its London office on ''PC Dealer''. |
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"We realised the chip industry was worth about $200bn a year then, and we were down the pub one day and said, ‘Why don't we do a newsletter because we can and this is a big, big market, and nobody else seems to be doing much about it.'"[http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=34330] |
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Mike Magee has written articles regarding [[Tantra]] for several decades[http://www.religiousworlds.com/mandalam/bibby.htm]. He has also provided translations for Tantra website [http://www.religiousworlds.com/mandalam/index.html Shiva Shakti Mandalam]. |
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The Register was irreverent and in most cases outright rude about the PR culture that fed the IT press at the time. It attracted a following among IT professionals and investment. |
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In December 2000 Magee suffered a heart attack and when he returned from hospital posted to a Silicon Investor message board that he had a disagreed with the way the Register was going [http://siliconinvestor.advfn.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=15555885]. He wondered if he should start the whole project over. He quit to form a 'back to basics' version called ''the Inquirer'' The expansion of this project was delayed as in September 2001 he had a heart bypass operation. Unlike 'the Register' which had substantial capital investment ''The Inquirer'' received little in the way of financing, but still managed to make a profit. It was also unique in that Magee was the only full-time employee. Tthe entire magazine was based on freelance submissions and staff and its advertising was outsourced. |
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In 2001, Magee was named as one of the top 100 people to influence on the development and growth of e-commerce and the internet in the UK over the last 10yrs in the e-consultancy's 'Internet Decade' awards. [http://www.e-consultancy.com/internetdecade/] |
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In 2006 Magee had an argument with his former bosses at VNU Business Publications over their alleged use of a web layout similar to that of ''The Inquirer''. The meeting went a little differently from what many predicted and laid the groundwork for Magee to sell the Inquirer to VNU Business Publications later that year. Magee remains as the editor of ''the Inquirer'' |
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==Philosophical and/or political views== |
==Philosophical and/or political views== |
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Revision as of 10:32, 19 June 2007
Mike Magee | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 7, 1949 |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Nationality | Great Britain |
Mike Magee (born December 7, 1949–) is a British journalist. He co-founded The Register in 1994, which he left in 2001 to found another well known technology news website, The Inquirer.
Biography
Early life
Michael (Mike) Vaughan Magee, born December 7, 1949 in Aberdeen, Scotland
Career
Mike Magee is one of the more colourful members of the IT community. He worked for VNU Business Publications on PC Dealer before becoming involved with that organisation's initial attempts at placing IT news on the Internet -- the VNU Newswire. He left the Newswire to pioneer what was to become the UK's first Internet based IT tabloid, The Register which he founded with John Lettice in 1994. It started as a news letter with Magee specialising in writing about computer chips, and John Lettice, who mostly covered software.
"We realised the chip industry was worth about $200bn a year then, and we were down the pub one day and said, ‘Why don't we do a newsletter because we can and this is a big, big market, and nobody else seems to be doing much about it.'"[1]
The Register was irreverent and in most cases outright rude about the PR culture that fed the IT press at the time. It attracted a following among IT professionals and investment.
In December 2000 Magee suffered a heart attack and when he returned from hospital posted to a Silicon Investor message board that he had a disagreed with the way the Register was going [2]. He wondered if he should start the whole project over. He quit to form a 'back to basics' version called the Inquirer The expansion of this project was delayed as in September 2001 he had a heart bypass operation. Unlike 'the Register' which had substantial capital investment The Inquirer received little in the way of financing, but still managed to make a profit. It was also unique in that Magee was the only full-time employee. Tthe entire magazine was based on freelance submissions and staff and its advertising was outsourced.
In 2001, Magee was named as one of the top 100 people to influence on the development and growth of e-commerce and the internet in the UK over the last 10yrs in the e-consultancy's 'Internet Decade' awards. [3] In 2006 Magee had an argument with his former bosses at VNU Business Publications over their alleged use of a web layout similar to that of The Inquirer. The meeting went a little differently from what many predicted and laid the groundwork for Magee to sell the Inquirer to VNU Business Publications later that year. Magee remains as the editor of the Inquirer
Philosophical and/or political views
Information from Mike's published work probably can be added here. It's not really from independent Wikipedia reilable sources, but people sometimes do it for Wikipedia Journalist's articles.
Marriage and family
His son, Tamlin Magee, occasionally also writes articles for The Inquirer.
Notes
- Mitchell, Chris. (February 15, 2000) Evening Standard. Paradise for pranksters In the net.
- Business Wire (June 19, 2006) VNU Business Media Europe Expands Reach of Its Online Portfolio with the European Roll out of the Inquirer.
- Hamm, Steve. (August 30, 2006) Business Week Online The Battery Recall: A Win for the Web Credit blogs and new media for keeping the heat on about flaming laptop batteries -- and helping to push Dell and Apple into action. Section: Top News.
Published Works
If any of these from Amazon search are relevant, add them here.
See also
External links
- The Register
- The Inquirer
- The post that got Magee fired from The Register
- Insider view of Magee's return to VNU
- The link above restored thanks to Google's cache - it appeared to have been removed from Kewney's blog (link no longer works)
- Article about the start of online journalism in the UK
- The Inquirer "Mageek branded an Intel employee - by Intel"
- Tantric website with translations and design by Mike Magee
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