David Streitfeld is a
Pulitzer Prize–winning American journalist, best known for his reporting on books and technology. During his tenure as book reporter at The Washington Post, he definitively identified
Joe Klein as the "Anonymous" author of the 1996 novel Primary Colors,[1] upon which Klein admitted authorship, despite earlier denials.[2]
At The Washington Post, Streitfeld covered books and publishing between 1987 and 1998; for three more years, he covered Silicon Valley and technology for the Post from San Francisco.[3] In 1997, Streitfeld identified
Joe Klein as Anonymous, the author of the bestselling book about the
Clinton presidential campaign,
Primary Colors. Streitfeld, a book collector, spotted a
galley proof, a pre-publication version of the novel, listed for sale in an antiquarian booksellers catalog. The proof reproduced handwritten changes, which Streitfeld sent to a handwriting expert, who compared the notes to Joe Klein's handwriting, confirming that he was the author.[4]
Streitfeld has reported extensively on
Amazon's business practices, dating back to the 1990s, when the company was primarily an online bookstore. In 1998, Streitfeld gave
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, his first tour of the Washington Post, which Bezos purchased in 2013.[5] "The editors there thought Amazon was cute, interesting, a frill — not something transformative. The notion that the Post would one day be owned by the guy with the goofy laugh sitting in front of them was literally inconceivable.”[6]
Los Angeles Times
In 2001, Streitfeld joined the Los Angeles Times as a technology reporter, later switching to covering
Enron, housing, and general economics. In July 2006, the Atlantic magazine named him "The Bard of the Bubble" for his LA Times real estate coverage.[7]
New York Times
In 2007, Streitfeld joined The New York Times as Chicago business reporter and later covered technology subjects.
Streitfeld was one of a team of New York Times reporters who won the 2013
Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for a series of 10 articles on the business practices of
Apple and other technology companies.[8][9] Streitfeld's contribution focused on freelance programmers and how hard it could be to make a living making apps for the
iPhone.
In May 2014, Streitfeld broke the story of
Amazon.com's negotiating tactics with publishing house
Hachette,[10] which he continued to cover for multiple months.[11] The reporting on the topic by The New York Times and Streitfeld was the subject of a piece by The New York TimesPublic Editor Margaret Sullivan in October 2014.[12]
In January 2015,
Melville House published Gabriel Garcia Marquez: The Last Interview, a collection edited by Streitfeld. The introduction details his friendship with Marquez and the circumstances of their talks on two continents.[13]
In August 2015, Streitfeld and New York Times colleague
Jodi Kantor co-authored Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace.[14] The 6000-word story generated more than 6600 comments, the largest number of comments on a story in The New York Times history and the Times story reporting this fact drew over 200 comments.[15]
Streitfeld's longtime friendship with science fiction author
Elizabeth Hand inspired her
Nebula Award-winning short story Echo.[19]
Awards
2012 "Best in Business" award from the
Society of American Business Editors and Writers for his The New York Times stories on fake online reviews. Judges cited "a really nice job detailing this new review economy and how these reviews are replacing traditional advertising."[20]
2017 William Randolph Hearst Foundation Professional Award for Excellence presented by
San Jose State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications.[22]
Personal life
Streitfeld is married and has a daughter. He lives near San Francisco, California, with a book collection exceeding 10,000 volumes.[6] As a tech reporter, Streitfeld is reported to not use much technology outside of his job.[23]
Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview and Other Conversations (as editor).
Melville House (2015)
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ISBN}}: checksum. A collection of interviews with the science fiction author, including the first one ever published and one conducted the day before his fatal stroke.