It was a grey autumn day in 1997, and I was at the desk in the dingy back room in which The Irish Times then produced its weekly, pioneering computer and technology page, Computimes. Fluorescent lighting emphasised the monotonous beige and grey of walls, floor and computing equipment.
My job was to write up brief news pieces for the left side of the single Computimes page. I wrote for other parts of the newspaper as well, whatever I might get as a freelance. A badly-needed steady stream of work had popped up with Computimes, thanks to its two amiable editors, Michael Cunningham and the late Fiachra Ó Marcaigh.
Not many journalists then cared to write about technology, and, unlike Ó Marcaigh and Cunningham, I was no specialist in the area. But I’d used a variety of computers, software, and the internet during the 1980s and 1990s. As computers and technology began to emerge as topics of interest to the general public and businesses, publications wanted stories, including The Irish Times.
I was discovering I really loved covering the sector. It was fast-expanding, energetic, sometimes visionary, sometimes pompous or silly, with a fascinating mix of entrepreneurial, scientific, engineering and creative cultures, plus a history I’d been surrounded by as a child and young adult living in Silicon Valley. Alongside my Computimes news summary, I’d begun writing occasional technology-angled pieces for the main Computimes page and a number of international publications.
I nearly burst out laughing. A column? Me? In the business section?
That day, Ó Marcaigh came over and leaned against the desk. There were plans for a major expansion of the business and finance pages, he said, to include much more coverage of technology. “I think you should pitch for a technology column,” he said. I nearly burst out laughing. A column? Me? In the business section? I mumbled something about how I really didn’t think so. What would I write about? And every week? I’d never even been in the corner of the newsroom where the business and finance section was based.
“No, really, you should do it. Think about it. But you have to move fast. Send an email pitch this week to Paul O’Neill. He’s assistant business editor and will be in charge of the new technology pages.”
[ Paul O’Neill to step down as Irish Times EditorOpens in new window ]
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I almost didn’t. But in the end, I did. I tried to think of an alluring column title, to sound like a proper business writer. I came up with “Net Results”, which I thought a good play on words, gestured towards being online but also, business. Not bad, but I felt I’d better add a little subheading to make sure it was business-y enough for this new assistant business editor. I appended: “The Web and Your Business.”
Not long after, I learned I was now an Irish Times columnist and needed to go over to the business and finance section and talk to my new boss, Paul O’Neill. I was terrified he’d immediately see I was a total impostor, obviously a fake columnist. But he was friendly and matter of fact. What would I write about? Here are your deadlines. You need to file your first column this week, please.
Why are European stocks struggling? / Streaming services weigh up ads
It appeared on November 28th, 1997. The headline: “Surfing with confidence takes time”, with the subhead: “Business people can access most major ‘paper’ publications online and get up-to-date financial news.” Wary of jargon people might not understand, I put quotation marks around words like “bookmarks” and “links”.
I advised: “The following are websites which might gain boss-approval if you’re caught surreptitiously web-surfing.” This might seem mollycoddling but it’s easy to forget — or if you’re younger, never to have known — a time when the web was new and only a minority of the population was online.
Paul O’Neill (and succeeding editors) never told me what to write
As the column quickly began to move more into analysis and opinion, to consider global, not just Irish topics, and to encompass political, societal and ethical questions, Paul just rolled with it, establishing an incredibly supportive, hands-off writing environment for me that I knew was unusual. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have it. Paul (and succeeding editors) never told me what to write.
Only once did Paul raise an eyebrow — at some early campaigning piece that I vaguely recall, focused on a societal issue. “I’m not sure what this has to do with the web and your business,” he sighed. But it ran. Eventually, he (rightly) discarded the column’s slogan, as Net Results had moved well beyond serving as an internet-at-work guide.
I’d hardly have imagined then where the column would go. Or that decades later, I’d still be writing Net Results, and Paul would become overall editor.
Since Tuesday, when he announced he will be stepping down, I’ve been reflecting on my great fortune that he decided a long ago that I was worth taking a bet on — not least, as a columnist. His decision reshaped my life. I’d pictured journalism as an interim job, but it quickly became a career and a passion, practised with an editorial freedom which, I know, remains exceptional.
