# Kara Swisher
**Kara Swisher** is an American technology journalist, author, and podcast host who has reported on the technology industry since the early 1990s. She is the host of the interview podcast *On with Kara Swisher* and the co-host, with entrepreneur Scott Galloway, of *Pivot*, both distributed by New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network[1](https://apnews.com/article/3bf10c88fdaef1142ad2d8e6e9faf648). She previously co-founded the technology news site Recode and co-produced the Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference series, now called the Code Conference, with fellow journalist Walt Mossberg[2](https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/host/kara-swisher).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current shows | Host of *On with Kara Swisher* (twice weekly since 2022) and co-host of *Pivot* with Scott Galloway[3](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-with-kara-swisher/id1643307527) • [4](https://www.voxmedia.com/2022/9/7/23341492/kara-swisher-announces-new-podcast-with-vox-media-and-new-york-magazine-on-with-kara-swisher) |
| Career span | Reporting on the technology industry since the early 1990s, at The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Recode, New York Magazine, and CNN[1](https://apnews.com/article/3bf10c88fdaef1142ad2d8e6e9faf648) • [5](https://schedule.sxsw.com/2026/contributors/132516) |
| Entrepreneurial work | Co-founder of Recode; co-producer and co-host, with Walt Mossberg, of the D: All Things Digital conference (from 2003), now the Code Conference[2](https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/host/kara-swisher) |
| Memoir | *Burn Book: A Tech Love Story* (Simon & Schuster, February 27, 2024, 320 pages), a New York Times bestseller[6](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kara-swisher/burn-book-2/) • [5](https://schedule.sxsw.com/2026/contributors/132516) |
| Education | Master's degree in journalism from Columbia University (class of 1985); undergraduate study at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service[7](https://lgbthistorymonth.com/sites/default/files/LGBTHistoryMonthBios_2023.pdf) • [8](https://www.aspencybersummit.org/2020-speakers/kara-swisher) |
| Honors | 2024 Webby Lifetime Achievement Award; No. 8 on Fast Company's inaugural Queer 50 list[9](https://www.webbyawards.com/kara-swisher-lifetime-achievement-celebration/) • [10](https://www.fastcompany.com/90475425/queer-50-kara-swisher) |
| Recent expansion | Midterms podcast *High Stakes* with Hillary Clinton (October 2026) and the CNN series *Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever*[11](https://www.voxmedia.com/2026/10/13/secretary-hillary-rodham-clinton-kara-swisher-and-vox-media-form-podcast-partnership/) • [12](https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2026/01/29/cnn-original-series-releases-first-look-and-introduces-kara-swisher-wants-to-live-forever/) |
## Early life and education
Swisher studied at [Georgetown University](https://www.edgepedia.org/georgetown-university)'s School of Foreign Service, where she wrote her first technology story for the school paper in 1980[8](https://www.aspencybersummit.org/2020-speakers/kara-swisher). She earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University before returning to The Washington Post for a full-time position[7](https://lgbthistorymonth.com/sites/default/files/LGBTHistoryMonthBios_2023.pdf). Her first salary, she has said, was 13,000 dollars a year as associate editor at the Washington City Paper in 1985[13](https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a43663209/kara-swisher-podcast-career-interview/).
Her father, a chief anesthetist at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, died in 1968 at age 34, when Swisher was 5. She has said his sudden death gave her a profound awareness of mortality that shaped her career and view of life[14](https://apnews.com/article/1ff67bdeb15db4b6737b89ed69d077d2).
## Print journalism
After early stints that included working alongside the conservative talk-show host [John McLaughlin](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-mclaughlin-host), whom she later testified against in a sexual harassment case, Swisher returned to The Washington Post, working her way up from Style news aide to reporter[15](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/kara-swisher-podcasts). At about age 34 she moved to the West Coast as technology correspondent for [The Wall Street Journal](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-wall-street-journal), arriving when the web numbered roughly 130 websites; a year later, in 1994, there were more than 3,000. She chronicled the rise of America Online founder [Steve Case](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-case) and AOL's merger with Time Warner[16](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2024/04/01/kara-swisher-america-s-most-feared-tech-journalist-takes-on-silicon-valley_6667055_117.html).
## Conferences, Recode, and podcasts
**The conference era.** In 2003 Swisher and Walt Mossberg, her mentor at The Wall Street Journal, launched the "D: All Things Digital" conference series, which became the Code Conference, described by [Vox Media](https://www.edgepedia.org/vox-media) as the country's premier conference on tech and media. Its stage hosted interviews with [Bill Gates](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-gates), Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Jack Dorsey, and other industry leaders[2](https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/host/kara-swisher). Her joint onstage interview with [Steve Jobs](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-jobs) and Bill Gates, the only one they ever did together, took place there[17](https://lgbthistorymonth.com/sites/default/files/icon_multimedia_pdfs/2023/LGBTHistoryMonth-Swisher.pdf). In 2014 she and Mossberg left to start the standalone tech news site Recode, which Vox Media bought in 2015[10](https://www.fastcompany.com/90475425/queer-50-kara-swisher).
**Podcasting.** Swisher hosted the Recode Decode podcast and, for New York Times Opinion, the interview show *Sway*, about power and the people who hold it[2](https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/host/kara-swisher) • [18](https://harvardpolitics.com/kara-swisher-interview/). *Pivot*, her twice-weekly show with Scott Galloway, launched in 2018 with an initial focus on the intersection of technology and business[19](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/29/kara-swisher-pivot-podcast-politics-election-2028/8b1ec13e-73a9-11f1-b665-5f8be87f3787_story.html). In September 2022 she launched *On with Kara Swisher* with Vox Media and New York Magazine, a twice-weekly interview program featuring what its listing calls no-holds-barred conversations with power players across business, tech, media, and politics[4](https://www.voxmedia.com/2022/9/7/23341492/kara-swisher-announces-new-podcast-with-vox-media-and-new-york-magazine-on-with-kara-swisher) • [3](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-with-kara-swisher/id1643307527). The show won two 2026 Webby Awards, including the People's Voice Winner for interview or talk show podcasts[20](https://winners.webbyawards.com/2026/podcasts/shows/interview-or-talk-show-news-business-society/375040/on-with-kara-swisher).
Her interviews have produced widely reported moments: she persuaded the rivals Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to appear onstage together, and her 2010 onstage questioning left [Mark Zuckerberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-zuckerberg) sweating[1](https://apnews.com/article/3bf10c88fdaef1142ad2d8e6e9faf648). She knew [Elon Musk](https://www.edgepedia.org/elon-musk) for nearly 30 years and had his cellphone number, though the two stopped speaking after he bought Twitter in 2022[21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fQcZ0Fhlm0) • [22](https://apnews.com/article/da59477892bda4231e84f4cca5de6960).
## Burn Book and views on the tech industry
Swisher's memoir *Burn Book: A Tech Love Story*, published by [Simon & Schuster](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-and-schuster) on February 27, 2024, recounts her three decades covering [Silicon Valley](https://www.edgepedia.org/silicon-valley) and delivers pointed verdicts on its leaders. In the book she calls Mark Zuckerberg "the most damaging man in tech" and Elon Musk "the most disappointing"[6](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kara-swisher/burn-book-2/) • [22](https://apnews.com/article/da59477892bda4231e84f4cca5de6960). She told The Associated Press she hoped the book would serve as a warning that the missteps of the previous 20 years not be repeated as artificial intelligence spreads through society[22](https://apnews.com/article/da59477892bda4231e84f4cca5de6960).
She has been a career-long advocate for stronger regulation of technology, arguing that government must hold technology leaders accountable[23](https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/10/david-frum-show-kara-swisher-tech-oligarchs-trump-ai/689101/). At the 2026 Atlantic Festival she argued that if the AI future goes wrong, people rather than the technology will be to blame: "These are people at the helm of these things"[24](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/09/kara-swisher-ai-destroy-humanity-atlantic-festival/688721/).
## Television and political expansion
Swisher has become a CNN contributor and, in 2026, the host of the six-part CNN Original Series *Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever*, which examines the science, business, and culture of longevity from wellness influencers to AI-powered robotic companions[12](https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2026/01/29/cnn-original-series-releases-first-look-and-introduces-kara-swisher-wants-to-live-forever/) • [14](https://apnews.com/article/1ff67bdeb15db4b6737b89ed69d077d2). In September 2026 she said on *Pivot* that she would leave CNN as soon as legally possible after [Warner Bros. Discovery](https://www.edgepedia.org/warner-bros-discovery)'s merger with Paramount was approved; her contract ran to December 31[25](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-star-kara-swisher-is-first-to-quit-after-trumpy-nepo-babys-merger/).
**Move into politics.** By 2026 she was producing four podcasts most weeks, filling in as a host on ABC's *The View*, appearing in *The Devil Wears Prada 2*, and preparing a national tour[1](https://apnews.com/article/3bf10c88fdaef1142ad2d8e6e9faf648). Potential Democratic presidential candidates including [Gavin Newsom](https://www.edgepedia.org/gavin-newsom), Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, and [Rahm Emanuel](https://www.edgepedia.org/rahm-emanuel) appeared on her shows during Donald Trump's second term[19](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/29/kara-swisher-pivot-podcast-politics-election-2028/8b1ec13e-73a9-11f1-b665-5f8be87f3787_story.html). In October 2026 she and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a podcast partnership with Vox Media, beginning with the midterms-focused limited series *High Stakes*, which debuted October 14 as a third weekly episode of *On with Kara Swisher*[11](https://www.voxmedia.com/2026/10/13/secretary-hillary-rodham-clinton-kara-swisher-and-vox-media-form-podcast-partnership/).
## Personal life
Swisher lives in Washington, D.C., with her wife, the editor Amanda Katz, their children, and a cat named Lovely; she has four children[19](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/29/kara-swisher-pivot-podcast-politics-election-2028/8b1ec13e-73a9-11f1-b665-5f8be87f3787_story.html) • [26](https://www.wired.com/story/kara-swisher-burn-book/). She moved from Silicon Valley to Washington a few years before 2024, citing her wife's work and a desire to leave an increasingly toxic and insular scene[22](https://apnews.com/article/da59477892bda4231e84f4cca5de6960). Known for her aviator sunglasses and leather jackets, she was ranked No. 8 on Fast Company's inaugural Queer 50 list for helping to change the conversation about technology's influence on public life[16](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2024/04/01/kara-swisher-america-s-most-feared-tech-journalist-takes-on-silicon-valley_6667055_117.html) • [10](https://www.fastcompany.com/90475425/queer-50-kara-swisher).
## References
1. [Kara Swisher took Silicon Valley by force. Now she's eyeing influence in the 2028 campaign, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/3bf10c88fdaef1142ad2d8e6e9faf648)
2. [Kara Swisher, Vox Media Podcast Network host page](https://podcasts.voxmedia.com/host/kara-swisher)
3. [On with Kara Swisher, Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-with-kara-swisher/id1643307527)
4. [Kara Swisher Announces New Interview Podcast in Partnership with Vox Media and New York Magazine, Vox Media](https://www.voxmedia.com/2022/9/7/23341492/kara-swisher-announces-new-podcast-with-vox-media-and-new-york-magazine-on-with-kara-swisher)
5. [Kara Swisher, SXSW 2026 contributor page](https://schedule.sxsw.com/2026/contributors/132516)
6. [Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Kirkus Reviews](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kara-swisher/burn-book-2/)
7. [Kara Swisher, LGBT History Month biography](https://lgbthistorymonth.com/sites/default/files/LGBTHistoryMonthBios_2023.pdf)
8. [Kara Swisher, Aspen Cyber Summit speaker page](https://www.aspencybersummit.org/2020-speakers/kara-swisher)
9. [A Toast to Kara Swisher, 2024 Webby Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, The Webby Awards](https://www.webbyawards.com/kara-swisher-lifetime-achievement-celebration/)
10. ['All the lanes are mine': Kara Swisher remains tech's most outspoken watchdog, Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/90475425/queer-50-kara-swisher)
11. [Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, Kara Swisher, and Vox Media Form Podcast Partnership, Vox Media](https://www.voxmedia.com/2026/10/13/secretary-hillary-rodham-clinton-kara-swisher-and-vox-media-form-podcast-partnership/)
12. [CNN Original Series Releases First Look and Introduces "Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever", CNN Press Room](https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2026/01/29/cnn-original-series-releases-first-look-and-introduces-kara-swisher-wants-to-live-forever/)
13. [Podcast Host and Journalist Kara Swisher Reflects on Her Career, Elle](https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a43663209/kara-swisher-podcast-career-interview/)
14. [Kara Swisher examines the science, tech and business of living longer in new CNN docuseries, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/1ff67bdeb15db4b6737b89ed69d077d2)
15. ["I'll Walk Away From Anything": Kara Swisher Calls the Shots, Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/kara-swisher-podcasts)
16. [Kara Swisher, America's most feared tech journalist, takes on Silicon Valley, Le Monde](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2024/04/01/kara-swisher-america-s-most-feared-tech-journalist-takes-on-silicon-valley_6667055_117.html)
17. [Kara Swisher, LGBT History Month multimedia biography](https://lgbthistorymonth.com/sites/default/files/icon_multimedia_pdfs/2023/LGBTHistoryMonth-Swisher.pdf)
18. [Big Tech, Policymaking, and Leadership: An Interview With Journalist Kara Swisher, Harvard Political Review](https://harvardpolitics.com/kara-swisher-interview/)
19. [Kara Swisher took Silicon Valley by force. Now she's eyeing influence in the 2028 campaign, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/06/29/kara-swisher-pivot-podcast-politics-election-2028/8b1ec13e-73a9-11f1-b665-5f8be87f3787_story.html)
20. [On with Kara Swisher, 2026 Webby Awards winner page](https://winners.webbyawards.com/2026/podcasts/shows/interview-or-talk-show-news-business-society/375040/on-with-kara-swisher)
21. [Kara Swisher On The Power Of Podcasts, Silicon Valley & 2028 Prez Contenders, The View / Behind the Table, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fQcZ0Fhlm0)
22. ['Burn Book' torches tech titans in veteran reporter's tale of love and loathing in Silicon Valley, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/da59477892bda4231e84f4cca5de6960)
23. [Will the Tech Oligarchs Turn on Trump? The David Frum Show, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/10/david-frum-show-kara-swisher-tech-oligarchs-trump-ai/689101/)
24. [Kara Swisher: AI Isn't Going to Destroy Humanity, But the People Building It Might, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/09/kara-swisher-ai-destroy-humanity-atlantic-festival/688721/)
25. [CNN Star Is First to Quit After Trumpy Nepo Baby Takes Over, The Daily Beast](https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnn-star-kara-swisher-is-first-to-quit-after-trumpy-nepo-babys-merger/)
26. [Kara Swisher Is Sick of Tech People, So She Wrote a Book About Them, WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/kara-swisher-burn-book/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Broadcasting and journalism › Periodicals and publishing › Journalism › Journalists (biographies and roles) › American journalists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license