Computer Weekly and I have much in common. For a start we both started in IT in 1966. It has landed on my doormat every week ever since. On top of that I must have been quoted in it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Framed on my wall is a profile they did of me (entitled “If you can’t make a mistake, you can’t make a decision’) from the 1980s. I’ve known many of the editors and their reportage has been top notch. Indeed, although many readers may not agree, CW’s Tony Collins has been the best IT investigative journalist the UK has produced. (Note - Tony now writes for ComputerworldUK. CW's loss, their gain)
So there is some sadness in reporting that Reed Business has now sold both Computer Weekly and Microscope to TechTarget Inc and the print versions of both will end in late April.
Of course the whole business model for such papers has changed radically. Remember how thick they were with all those job ads? That moved to the internet ages ago thus depriving CW of much of its revenue stream. Indeed, readers now get their tech fix from the web too. So TechMarketView was another (albeit small!) nail in their coffin.
I hope that TechTarget will uphold/restore the high standard of journalism that had been CW hallmark. US-based TechTarget has c90 websites covering niche tech areas. They lost $1.2m on revenues of $95m last year – so maybe their model isn’t that robust either!