Vindu Goel, a veteran journalist at the San Jose Mercury News, has just gotten one of the most exclusive jobs in American journalism, that of a business columnist at a major U.S. daily. As the new business columnist at the Merc, he work will be read by leaders in Silicon Valley and beyond. His column should be launched later this summer; right now, he's an editorial writer and blogger for the paper (see his work, Vindu's View from the Valley, at http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/vindu/)
Goel told SAJAforum.org that he is looking forward to writing columns that spark positive change in Silicon Valley and the global technology industry as they take larger leadership roles in the world economy on issues like climate change and the digital divide. "I've wanted to be a columnist since I was in high school reading Russell Baker and Charles Krauthammer," Goel said. "This is a dream job for me."
Announcing the new job, James Robinson, told his staff: " I'm pleased to
announce that Vindu Goel will be returning to the newsroom as a
columnist in the business section. The new column will build on his
recent work as an editorial writer and blogger, giving us a sharp and
savvy new voice in our redesigned business report."
See Robinson's full memo below, along with Goel's bio and examples of his work. Post your comments, too.
From: Robinson, James H.
Friday, June 15, 2007 1:29 PM
To: EDIT ALL
Subject: a new role for vindu goel
I'm pleased to announce that Vindu Goel will be returning to the newsroom as a columnist in the business section. The new column will build on his recent work as an editorial writer and blogger, giving us a sharp and savvy new voice in our redesigned business report.
Vindu will write about business, technology and the Silicon Valley economy from a broad perspective. He will do some classic business-columnist stuff: interviewing valley executives, explaining new tech trends, picking apart financial reports. But he will also look at the public policy issues important to the valley's economy: global warming, universal broadband, privacy, the role of immigrants in both high- and low-tech and the impact of the valley's high housing prices.
Vindu joined the Merc in 1999 as an assistant business editor overseeing tech coverage. Over the years, he moved up to other editing positions in Biz, becoming business editor in April 2003. He was involved in many great stories, from the Microsoft antitrust trial to the Google IPO and the never-ending Hewlett-Packard saga.
With Vindu joining Dean Takahashi, we once again have a pair of top-flight columnists appropriate to our place in the world of business and technology journalism. We haven't set a kickoff date for Vindu yet, but look for his column to start later this summer.
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VINDU GOEL BIO
Vindu Goel is an editorial writer and blogger (http://www.mercextra.com/blogs
From 2003 to 2005, Goel was
business editor of the Mercury News, guiding its nationally lauded
technology and business coverage. He joined the paper in 1999 as an
assistant business editor after eight years at the (Cleveland) Plain
Dealer, where he reported extensively on state government, business and
foreign affairs.
He began his career as a consumer products reporter in the Philadelphia bureau of the Wall Street Journal.
Goel graduated from Harvard University in 1989 with honors, receiving a
bachelor's degree in English.He has traveled widely in the United
States and overseas, and he spends
much of his free time hiking, tasting fine wines and taking road trips
in his Honda S2000 convertible.
