Inside tech journalism: the NDA game

[Ioman]

There are no secrets in technology today. Thanks to rumor sites such as Engadget, Gizmodo, and the army of sniffer sites they link to daily, nearly every big product release (along with some small ones) has been revealed, dissected, and evaluated long before it hits the shelves. Leaks, once the primary purview of political and business journalism, are the bread and butter of modern-day gadget hounds. And those leaks come from all over the place. One of the primary offenders, actually, is Amazon, whose recent revelations included complete specs on Apple's updated G5 line a day before Apple's own announcement. It's also, over time, revealed details on various Windows releases, Mac OS X Tiger, the PalmOne Tungsten T5, the PSP, the Garmin iQue 3200, and Xbox 2 specifications, to name a few.

http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033_1-6214591-1.html

Engadget's response
http://calacanis.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000177042181/

I think Molly is exactly right. I enjoyed reading her story, I think that she said what every true journalist has been thinking.

[llbbl]

I think Calacanis was a bit harsh on his analysis of her letter. I think she was giving him props and more frustrated at the manufacturers for all the hoops that review sites such as CNET have to jump through to get products to review.

[llbbl]

Here was a response to the cnet article that I found to be particullary good.

Post by: llsee on 04/29/05 Previous message | Next message

Technology reporters and publications can only use the term journalism in the very broadest context. Journalism, involves reporting stories, researching and investigation. Virtually all technology magazines, newspapers, and throw-aways rely on company press-releases as their primary source of information. This has been true since the early days of technology publications, even the Computerworld of 25 years ago reprinted press releases verbatim as news stories. Cnet/ZDnet are no different. Real reporting is the rarity, and so are less than glowing product reviews.

When Molly sugeested that the reason for this close relationship with the vendors is to keep the free loaners coming she was telling only a half truth, or a quarter truth. The real reason is advertising revenue! To maintain those glossy publications, and this whiz-bang web site requires money. This comes from corporate ad dollars. So while Molly and her reporting brethern may chafe at the vendor behavior, her editors and publishers realize that they really serve their big advertisers, and not the reading public.

Readers, like me, who have been burned by buying lousy products that received glowing reviews, realize that we cannot trust the so-called technology journalists to provide honest, unbiased reviews. Hence we turn to the web for real user experience. The recent growth of the Blog world, actually looks closer to traditional journalism than what we see in the technology publications. What is missing, of course, is the traditional role of editor who checks to insure that the information has been verified, and cross checked, and is not just rumor and innuendo. But still, these sites get it right a surprising number of times, and a lot sooner than the "trades" do.

[Ioman]

Here is Rob Enderle's response:

http://news.designtechnica.com/talkback53.html

I think Jason is over reacting and blowing it out of proportion personally, but based on his track record he does that with everything.

[Ioman]

The recent growth of the Blog world, actually looks closer to traditional journalism than what we see in the technology publications. What is missing, of course, is the traditional role of editor who checks to insure that the information has been verified, and cross checked, and is not just rumor and innuendo. But still, these sites get it right a surprising number of times, and a lot sooner than the "trades" do.


That is utter BS. If I want information that I KNOW is factual, I go to CNN, News.com, Reuters. I like blogs like Engadget, but I know that they post information often prematurely and because of that it might not always be true. But thats ok, I would rather see something than nothing during the day, even if it may only be speculation.

Blogs in general cannot be lumped in with sites like Engadget, Gizmodo, Gawker or any other site that posts rumors, hints etc. Some blogs are extremely accurate with their information.

I think people realize this. If they want reviews and solid content, they go to News.com. If they want a collection of factual news, rumors, and uncensored content, they go to Engadget. Chances are like me, they go to both. Remember, most blogs post very little content of their own, they usually link to other places where they found the information. Its like a directory or related news.

[gary_hendricks]

Some of my thoughts on tech journalism. Tech journalism is tough due to the speed at which companies release their new products.

A review written today is outdated within a week due to some patch, or some newer version being released.

For me, that's the toughest (but also most interesting) part of writing about technology.