In February of this year, Protocol made its high-profile debut. The new tech media outlet promised to cover the market in a way that goes beyond the story of the day, to “illuminate the personalities, relationships, clashes, ideas and strategies playing out in the shadows of power.” Protocol was started by the same team that created the hugely successful site POLITICO. Bennett Richardson is vice president and general manager of Protocol. Previously, he was executive director of global strategic partnerships at POLITICO.

Look Left’s John Moran spoke with Bennett about Protocol’s roller-coaster first six months in operation and looks ahead to the months ahead, including the presidential election. 

• 01:54 - The two things that make Protocol different
• 04:31 - Taking a “deep-dive” approach to reporting on the impact of Big Tech
• 07:34 - Bouncing back from April lay-offs
• 08:44 - Protocol’s biggest stories thus far at the intersection of tech and politics
• 11:56 - Covering the dynamics and personalities of tech’s leaders
• 15:04 - The role of tech in the 2020 elections  

Notable quotes:

While not an ideal time to launch a news site, the pandemic — along with other important societal changes — have served as an appropriate backdrop for the kinds of stories Protocol wants to tell: “Each of these moments has shown the power of both tech companies as well as technology itself. From conversations around contract tracing to content moderation to seeing how the cloud and enterprise universe was one of the few bright spots in one of the hardest quarters in the US economy in a long time. While it was certainly a challenging year to launch something new, I think it’s really reinforced why we exist in the first place: the really powerful and complex role that technology has played in every one of these big issues that has unfolded in 2020.”

Some of Protocol’s most interesting insight has come from people who may not necessarily be household names in the tech sector: “There are a lot of really interesting dynamics in the industry, a lot of personalities, and candidly, a lot of personalities behind the scenes. A lot of our most read and most interesting interviews and profiles haven’t been from the CEO you might see on the front cover of every magazine. These industries are deep and they are diverse and they are textured. And there are some amazing smart people with amazing, wild ideas about where the future is going and how they’re building that future.”

With the election less than three months away, Protocol’s coverage of the 2020 election will feature a number of interesting angles: “The role of tech in this election is unprecedented. From seeing those executives up on Capitol Hill virtually to the role our sitting president is using social media as a part of his campaign and the role that could play as results unfold. It is a huge moment, really on both sides, on how these tech companies will navigate those moments. How do we not only ensure election security but also handle falsehoods and misleading information on different platforms? There is no shortage of stories that are going to unfold.”