What difference a tech-savvy president maketh
In a typical newsroom where every journalist is fighting for a space on the front page, there are often days when you don't really want to be a tech reporter. Why?
How do you convince the chief editor that your piece about Asia becoming a breeding ground for malware, deserves more prime space than an article on the government providing training funds and on Barack Obama becoming the first African-American U.S. president?
Tech news seldom carries the same urgency that news on pressing social and political issues do. Propped up next to an article about world poverty, a piece about the latest mobile technology just seems...frivolous--unless, of course, the article talks about how mobile can help rid world poverty.
So, covering tech news ain't always a piece of cake, and it's always tough trying to pitch a story for the front page if you're not writing for a specialized tech news agency like ZDNet Asia.
I think part of the problem lies with a country's political leaders. Today, most of the world's government bodies are helmed by politicians who aren't exactly…well, let's just say they probably wouldn't know Facebook recently had a facelift--that is, if they know we're not referring to a book about faces.
When government representatives don't understand technology, and don't experience it on a daily basis, they don't usually know or want to discuss it. So, tech-related issues are usually left on the back burner at parliament and congressional sittings.
It's only when a high-profile political leader talks about technology that it gets frontpage attention. And we could finally see more of such occurrences in future, with Obama's ascension to the presidential seat.
According to an AFP report, the new president-elect is expected to be the country's first "tech president".
"Obama likes technology, and part of the reason he executed so well is that he used technology so effectively," notes Silicon Valley-based analyst Rob Enderle. "That makes him a tech president."
In fact, in the days leading up to the election, some 91 percent of tech companies and their employees in Silicon Valley had given Obama the thumbs-up. Major tech companies in the U.S. tech hub also reportedly gave Obama's party five times more in campaign funds, than they did to John McCain.
During a campaign stopover at Google's North California campus, Obama promised to defend Net neutrality and fight for "free and full exchange of information". In his speech, the president-elect added that his priorities would include clean energy, as well as technology such as electronic medical records and other e-government services.
If Obama is indeed the first tech-savvy U.S. president to take office, it could be a welcomed breath of fresh air the IT industry needs to kickstart a new wave of innovation.
And it might just be the answer that "Joe the programmer" seeks.