In this episode Jeremy Toeman sits down with David Cohn a lifelong storyteller who went from a philosophy and rhetoric student at UC Berkeley to shaping the future of news through product thinking and platform design. Today they discuss :

• How a Wired internship and a Craigslist blog gig sparked a 20 year friendship with Jeremy and a career in digital media.

• Why David pivoted from traditional journalism into product innovation before product was even a term in newsrooms.

• The story behind Spot Us the pre Kickstarter platform that crowdfunded journalism and how it earned David a 350 thousand dollar grant from the Knight Foundation.

• How David turned editorial instincts into product vision from Circa’s modular news app to viral video models at AJ+ and now generative AI solutions in local news with AdvanceLocal.

• His unique “career as albums” metaphor and how each chapter from freelance hustle to experimental newsroom builder reflects a remix of technology and storytelling.

You will also hear how Digg and Netscape shaped his early web literacy how being a top contributor taught him about online communities and why David believes the CMS is still the most important editor in modern journalism.

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