Richard Karpinski – Editor in Chief, Connected Planet
2/4/2010
By Sarah Hetland
With a career deeply rooted in technology journalism, Richard Karpinski was a natural choice for the top editorial spot at Connected Planet, a publication aimed at connecting the dots between technology and telecommunications.
The Chicago-based telecom publication is poised to lead the way in industry coverage, with the final touches of its Web site redesign recently completed.
“Telecom is not just about networks. It’s about the Web, it’s about services, it’s about mobile and enterprise,” Karpinski said.
Back in September 2009 the publication, originally known as Telephony, officially launched its new name and branding as Connected Planet. Last month that new editorial mission and name were brought to the Web site, of which Karpinski is very proud.
“Our big thing is just making good on what we’ve come to call Connected Planet and the ideas behind it. Editorially we’re already very Web-based, we publish news and blogs everyday,” he said. “Over the past two-to-three years we’ve become very Web first in what we do, so our goal is just to continue that and be smarter about that.”
The print version of Telephonywas first published in 1901 and had a long-standing history of covering the telecommunications industry. According to Karpinski, its reputation was beneficial but challenging.
“The industry is changing really rapidly, so our goal is to take our readers to whatever the next level is,” he said. “[Our readers] have been involved mainly in the running of telephone services and networks forever. Now they are faced with the challenge of new competitors, new markets and customers wanting to have more mobile services.”
He continued, “Our core coverage area is telecom infrastructure and services. We look at our core reader as being a telecom service provider, but that means something much different today than it used to. I mean Google provides telecom service, Apple does, it’s just a much broader definition of what it means to provide a communications service.”
Karpinski emphasized that the name change and new site haven’t changed the basis of what the publication has always been about.
“This has been an evolution. It’s not a jump into an entirely new market,” he said. “The thing we really stress is that we still cover our core markets and technologies. Our core readers are still there. Everything we are doing now is an addition, an add-on and it really just reflects what’s happening in our industry.”
Karpinski originally joined Connected Planet in the early ‘90s, when it was still known as Telephony. He later went on to work for other technology publications such as BtoB, InternetWeek, Communications Week, NetGuide and Network Computing. He rejoined Connected Planet in 2007 in the beginning stages of the rebranding effort, and was named editor in chief in December 2009.
His experience managing other online operations helped him with the Web-focused direction the company is taking. Part of the redesign included making the blog, Unfiltered, more prominently displayed on the homepage.
“[The blog] has become a much bigger focus for us in the past six months. We get a good core portion of our traffic from it,” he said. “It gives us a different way to do analysis and to do ‘quick hit’ stuff.”
Another feature being emphasized on the Web site is the Briefing Room, a section targeted to public relations professionals. It allows them to post social media and press releases directly to the Web site themselves; all they have to do is acquire a user name and password.
“It’s a way for PR professionals to reach our readers on their own,” he explained. “It’s a service to those people we work with all the time, a sort of a trusted relationship. We don’t edit [the releases] but we do look to see if something’s off track. We rarely see anything off track.”
He continued, “We are just trying to give options for our community of readers and content providers. To let them talk to our audience directly.”
And even though Karpinski doesn’t have a technology degree, he said the draw to this industry was always there.
“I got to be involved with the Web from the ground up both as a user very early on, and covering companies like Netscape. I’m a big technology user and to be able to cover it is just really enjoyable,” he said.
Pitching Tips
Karpinski is looking for pitches with unique angles on stories. It’s important to keep in mind the print version differs slightly from the Web site, he said.
“We publish an editorial calendar for our print issue. So there is some ability to pitch against [that],” he said. “To pitch a print story I’d come in about six to eight weeks early and contact the editor associated with that story.”
They are looking for trend and analysis-driven stories for the print version. He explained that everything they do in print will also be seen online in some form. But more original content is featured in the print version in larger cover stories.
“A lot of it actually starts online and then moves into print, that’s been a big focus for us. We’ve been living this idea of ‘Web first’ for awhile now. So we’re trying to pull content to the print magazine from the Web.”
As for what they are looking for online he said, “It’s just a sort of normal news-driven pitch process. We’re doing news, analysis, trend and feature stories every day, so we’re looking for breaking news, interesting developments and trend ideas.”
Karpinski also mentioned, “Sometimes not everything can get covered. I think we’re at a point where we can’t cover every bit of news that comes out. So some understanding of that [is important]. But if we can’t cover it, then you [always] have the option of placing it in the Briefing Room.”
Karpinski prefers all contact and pitching be done via e-mail.