Gideon Lichfield (born 4, August, 1971) is a British journalist who served as global editorial director and editor-in-chief of Wired magazine from March 2021[1] until August 2023[2] and before that as editor-in-chief of MIT Technology Review.[3]

Gideon Lichfield portrait

Career

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Lichfield began his journalism career in 1996 at The Economist, where he started on the science desk before becoming the title's correspondent in Mexico City, Moscow and Jerusalem.[4] He then moved to New York City and held various roles, including editorial head of Economist Education, an internal startup aimed at business executives.

Lichfield had a one-year fellowship at the Data & Society Research Institute,[5][6] where he wrote science fiction pieces exploring the social and political implications of technological advances. He also served as an adjunct professor at New York University, teaching a graduate course in foreign reporting at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.

Lichfield was one of the founding editors at Quartz. Hired at the company's inception in 2012, he led the newsroom, developed the ethics policy and style guide, and edited the Quartz Daily Brief newsletter.[7][8][9]

In December 2017, Lichfield moved to MIT Technology Review as editor-in-chief, overseeing the publication's editorial content and products, including the website, digital newsletters, print magazine and live events, as well as new platforms and formats under development.[3][10] While at MIT he edited Make Shift: Dispatches from the Post-Pandemic Future, a speculative-fiction anthology published in May 2021 by MIT Press, with stories from writers including Madeline Ashby, Indrapramit Das, Ken Liu, Malka Older, and Cory Doctorow.[11]

On March 22, 2021, Lichfield was appointed the global editorial director at Wired and editor-in-chief of Wired US.[1][12][13] As global editorial director, Lichfield set the overall content strategy, vision and tone across all of Wired's platforms in the markets where the company owned and operated the title.[14][15] Lichfield was the sixth editor-in-chief of Wired US, and the first global editorial director. Under his leadership the title launched a Spanish-language edition, Wired en Español,[16] adding to its existing editions in the US, UK, Italy and Japan.

Lichfield announced in June 2023 he was stepping down as Wired's editor-in-chief by September, or earlier if a replacement were to be found.[17][18] He was replaced by Katie Drummond on August 28, 2023.[2]

Works

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References

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  1. ^ a b Robertson, Katie (2021-03-02). "Wired names Gideon Lichfield as its new top editor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  2. ^ a b Robertson, Katie (2023-08-10). "Wired Names Katie Drummond as Its Next Leader". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  3. ^ a b "MIT Technology Review Names Gideon Lichfield Editor in Chief". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  4. ^ "Author interview". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  5. ^ "Introducing the inaugural class of Data & Society fellows". Data & Society. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  6. ^ "Gideon Lichfield". Data & Society. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  7. ^ "Why Quartz has gone niche with newsletter topics". Digiday. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  8. ^ Carr, David (2012-09-24). "Covering the World of Business, Digital Only". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  9. ^ Gideon Lichfield, editor of qz.com, on how to compete online, retrieved 2023-07-31
  10. ^ "Journalists and academics explore the communication of science". MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  11. ^ "Make Shift". MIT Press. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  12. ^ Flynn, Kerry (2021-03-02). "Wired names Gideon Lichfield of MIT Tech Review as top editor | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  13. ^ Kelly, Keith J. (2021-03-02). "Conde Nast taps Gideon Lichfield to head Wired magazine". Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  14. ^ Masters, Media (2022-06-16). "Gideon Lichfield - Global Editorial Director, WIRED". Media Masters. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  15. ^ Flynn, Kerry (2022-01-03). "Wired's top editor: Metaverse 'feels like a terminological land grab' | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  16. ^ Condé Nast (2022-12-13). "WIRED Launches WIRED In Spanish". www.condenast.com. Retrieved 2024-04-04.
  17. ^ Maher, Bron (2023-06-01). "Quartz and Wired editors-in-chief announce departures on same day". Press Gazette. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
  18. ^ Jones, Rachel (2023-06-02). "Where Have All the Editors Gone?". Observer. Retrieved 2023-07-31.
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