Davey Alba | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Education | De La Salle University (BA) Columbia University (MA) |
| Occupation | Technology journalism |
| Website | daveyalba |
Davey Alba is atechnology reporter who coversBig Tech forBloomberg News,[1] after previously reporting on onlinedisinformation forThe New York Times.[2]
Davey Alba was born inManila,Philippines, and attended De La Salle University, earning a degree in communication arts. Her father is an academic, mother an economic consultant and her sister isVP of a multi-national investment bank. She came to the United States at age 23[3] in 2011. She studied at Columbia University and received a masters in science journalism.[2]
Alba's first job out of training was atPopular Mechanics; she was technology editor and got to test gadgets and phones.[4] She worked as a technology reporter atBuzzFeed News,Wired andGizmodo before joiningThe New York Times as a technology reporter in 2019.[2] Her area of coverage was "disinformation and all of its tentacles."[5] In March, 2022, she joined Bloomberg News, covering Google and Big Tech.[1]
In 2018, working at BuzzFeed News, she reported how Philippine PresidentRodrigo Duterte used Facebook to gain power in the country.[6] For the BuzzFeed News article on Duterte, Alba won two 2019 awards. She was awarded theLivingston Award for International Reporting, documenting howFacebook ignored fake news, fueled the Filipino drug war,[7] and adversely impacted a vulnerable community[3] by enabling Duterte to manipulate public opinion and win election.[8] After Duterte won, the Facebook machinery of manipulating opinion became a state-sponsored one[6] "to punish opponents, sometimes with death."[7] She won theMirror Award for Best Story for Journalism in Peril.[9]
After reporting on videos supportive ofPresident Trump's recommendation for the usedisinfectants in the treatment ofCOVID-19,[10] Alba was the target of "weaponizedharassment." Alba reports that she was targeted as a reporter who is an immigrant, a woman and aperson of color.[11]
In September 2021, Alba interviewed incomingWikimedia Foundationchief executive officerMaryana Iskander.[12]