Joe Osborne
Verified
(He/Him)
As seen in:
PCMag,
Medium,
MSN,
Business Insider,
Business Insider Singapore,
Aol,
Fox News,
IGN,
PC Mag Middle East,
PC Magazine Australia,
PCMag UK
and
Covers:
Consumer technology, computers, laptops, desktops, PC components, graphics cards, processors, Windows, Macs, Chromebooks, video games
Deputy Managing Editor, Hardware @pcmag. Please follow PCMag.com if you’d like to follow my work.
Interview
Have you ever used a typewriter?
I have more than 30 years ago as a child.
How is social media changing news?
It's atomizing it, driving more opinion into news than ever. It's impossible to get a straight take on current events from the mainstream.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Before the show went downhill, I really enjoyed Jeff Daniels' character from The Newsroom.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
It means to search for the underlying truths in any scenario, particularly truths that matter to the people, and present them to the public.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Via my work email address, accessible via my current employer's mast head page.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Mostly a web browser, but also productivity apps like Slack and Asana.
What's your favorite social network?
I'm not a fan of any to be honest, but I use Facebook the most.
Why did you become a journalist?
I've always been a truth seeker, and wanted to do that from a position of expertise, whether that be investigations or product reviews.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I contributed several articles to my high school newspaper.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Publish articles on your beats of interest and expertise wherever you can. If you don't have clips, you won't get hired.
When's the best time to pitch you?
I always check my email as each shift begins in the mornings, so either early morning or overnight ET hours.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
The worst pitches I get are those that clearly indicate the pitcher has done zero research on me or my outlet.
What's your favorite drink?
Green tea
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
With my son playing baseball, watching the latest films and TV with my wife, or at a tabletop gaming table.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
I enjoy gaming and tech sites like Kotaku, Polygon, The Verge, and Ars Technica. I also love The Wirecutter's reviews and buying guides.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it's all fun and isn't that much work or "real" journalism is applied. The nature of the testing process demands journalistic integrity.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.