In 1976, The New Yorker published a cover illustration by Saul Steinberg called "View of the World from 9th Avenue." The cover was meant to parody the self-obsession of Manhattanites. The island's west side occupies half of the illustration. In the distance are a smattering of indistinguishable American cities and states. Los Angeles is barely visible; San Francisco and Seattle aren't on the map. Beyond is the vast Pacific, with Asia on the horizon.
More than four decades later, the American news media still has that worldview. Nearly all the top news organizations are based in New York or Washington. They do cover the world -- including Silicon Valley and Hollywood -- but they prioritize the stories happening on their doorsteps.
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But one of the most important stories in the world today isn't happening in Washington or on Wall Street. It's happening on the Pacific Coast.
From Seattle to Silicon Valley to Hollywood, the Pacific is the global capital of change and innovation, and the vanguard of a creative and technological revolution. It also happens to be the world's fifth-biggest economy, and home to its five biggest companies by market value. Decisions being made today by the likes of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and other people on the U.S.' West Coast will play a major role in shaping society for decades to come. And on the other Pacific Coast, companies in China, Japan and elsewhere are charting a course for the future that will have global impact of its own.
The Innovation Economy deserves robust media coverage. It deserves a news source that distills the day-to-day developments in technology and media and provides an understanding of the big picture. It deserves a great morning newsletter that puts the tech and media power players at the center of the action. Wall Street has DealBook. Washington has Playbook. It's about time the West Coast had PACIFIC.
PACIFIC is the newsletter for the Innovation Economy. It puts the power players in tech and media at the center of the action, and covers their moves and their interests, because those moves and interests signal where society is headed. It treats Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles not as cities on the periphery, but as capitals of the 21st Century. It works on Pacific Standard Time.
If Saul Steinberg were alive today, we'd commission a new view of the world. There in the foreground are South Lake Union, Sand Hill Road and Sunset Boulevard. Asia is on the immediate horizon, very near and growing closer. And in the far distance, circling all the way back to New York and Washington, the rest of the world, waiting to be changed.
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