Harry McCracken (born April 2, 1964) is creator of Technologizer, a technology-oriented website. He also presently writes a weekly column with the same name for the TIME.com website. Harry is also a contributing editor at CNET[1].
Until June 2, 2008, McCracken was the Editor in Chief of PC World for four years; he had previously held other editorial positions for ten. He was educated in the public schools of Newton, Massachusetts, the Cambridge School of Weston, and Boston University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.
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McCracken has won a number of awards for his editorial work. He received the American Business Media Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity in 2008, recognizing his resignation on principle in 2007 (see Controversy section below).[2] That same year he also won Best Editorial Column recognition from ABM and was listed on Folio: Magazine's list of 40 media influencers.[3]
On May 1st, 2007, McCracken, resigned abruptly under controversial circumstances. According to sources quoted in Wired Magazine, McCracken quit abruptly because the new CEO of PC World, Colin Crawford, tried to kill an unfavorable story about Apple and Steve Jobs.[4] Crawford responded, calling media reports of McCracken's resignation "inaccurate."[5] CNET later reported that McCracken had told colleagues that IDG "was pressuring him to avoid stories that were critical of major advertisers."[6][7] On May 9, 2007, Crawford was transferred to another department and McCracken returned to PC World.[8]
In addition to his computer magazine work, McCracken has also been active in animation fandom, as a central mailer for Apatoons, and editor of Animato! magazine. He was also co-moderator of the BIX Animation Forum, with the late Emru Townsend. He is also the webmaster of the Scrappyland website, devoted to the Charles Mintz cartoon character Scrappy.[9] He has also contributed to Slate.[10]
McCracken married Marie Domingo on December 26, 2010. He is the brother of novelist and teacher Elizabeth McCracken.