Jeff Jarvis

Career

Jarvis began his career in journalism in 1972 writing for the Addison Herald-Register, a local weekly newspaper at which he was the sole journalist. In 1974 Jarvis was an undergraduate in the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University when he was hired by the Chicago Tribune. He completed his degree and holds a BSJ from Northwestern.

In the mid-1980s Jarvis worked as a television critic for TV Guide and People magazines. In 1984, while still at People, Jarvis proposed the idea for Entertainment Weekly, a magazine which he hoped would feature "tough reviews and offbeat subjects" pertaining to the entertainment industry. The first issue was published in February 1990, with Jarvis as creator and managing editor. On June 12 of the same year, Jarvis left the publication; spokesman Peter Castiglio cited "creative differences" between Jarvis and senior management as the cause for his departure.

Jarvis is former Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News and a former columnist for the San Francisco Examiner. He was president and creative director of Advance Internet—the online arm of Advance Publications—until 2005. He has consulted for numerous other media companies. In 2005 he became an associate professor at City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism, directing its new media program.

Jarvis is the creator of the popular weblog BuzzMachine, which tracks developments in new media and chronicles some of the author's personal obsessions, such as the fortunes of radio host Howard Stern. He gained national notoriety when he wrote about his negative experiences in dealing with Dell Computer's customer support system on the website.

Along with Leo Laporte, Jarvis is a co-host on This Week in Google, a live-streamed podcast show on the TWiT Network which covers Google and cloud computing.

Books

In 2009, Jarvis wrote a book called, What Would Google Do? In the book, he argues that companies and individuals should study and perhaps copy Google's methods for succeeding at internet entrepreneurship. Jarvis said of the book, "Just as I try to look admiringly from a distance at Google, I include anecdotes and examples from Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook and Craig Newmark at craigslist and Jeff Bezos at Amazon."

In 2011, Jarvis published, Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live, in which he defends the openness of the Internet, discusses ways in which the Internet has made modern life public, and argues against regulations to protect privacy. "Public Parts" was reviewed scathingly by fellow Internet scholar, Evgeny Morozov, in the November 3, 2011, issue of The New Republic.

In 2012, Jarvis published Gutenberg the Geek, a Kindle Single, in which he suggests that Johannes Gutenberg was "the world’s first technology entrepreneur" and was comparable to Steve Jobs because they both "accomplished greatness through trial and error, vision, and determination."

Politics

Jarvis describes himself as "a liberal: a centrist leaning left." A Democrat, he claims to have voted party-line in most elections. Nonetheless, he notes that he upsets some Democrats for not always agreeing with them and for linking to those with whom they disagree. Jarvis says that is why he likes the blogosphere so much: because it allows him to talk with people whose opinions do not align with his views. Jarvis also describes himself as "a post-9/11 hawk."

Personal life

On Monday, August 10, 2009, Jarvis announced on his blog that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The cancer was detected at an early stage and was subsequently treated by robotic surgery. He was pronounced "cured" as the cancer was contained in the prostate and had not spread to other organs. His very public revelation and reporting of his condition was (according to Jarvis) partially motivated by, in his words, the hope "to be one more guy to convince you men to get your PSA checked: a small mitzvah in return for my luck."

He is married to Tammy.

Jarvis also has gephyrophobia, which he was diagnosed with in this twenties.

Prof. Jeff Jarvis Twitter Parody

Jarvis is the subject of a popular Twitter parody account, @ProfJeffJarvis, curated by Rurik Bradbury. The parody account has been enthusiastically received among many in media circles with over 30,000 followers. “I chose Jarvis because he epitomizes a certain type of ‘thinkfluencer,’ ” Bradbury explains, “someone with an online influence massively greater than the thoughtfulness of his positions. It's all style and rhetorical flourishes which don't stand up to scrutiny—but do grab attention.” Jarvis is not a fan of @ProfJeffJarvis, calling Bradbury, "my minor tormentor, my idiot imposter, my personal troll." He reached out to a Twitter executive to complain, but declined to pursue further action.