The Failure of Tech Journalism

Belzebutt writes: "This is a great article that talks about something we already knew, but haven't paid that much attention to: most tech journalists are a bunch of corporate whores. It even mentions Slashdot, although not very favorably." Eh, we'll get over it. It's a good rant, something to consider as news sites fold left and right.

Comments

Re:Wow

[c4thy]

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Re:Shouldn't it read...

[Ridge2001]

Now, as for all journalists being corporate whores, I would have to disagree. I have written about technology for 10 years and have never altered what I wrote due to the request or pressure of a company.

The problem is not so much deliberate alteration of particular stories. The problem is that companies tend to hire journalists who are in line with their own opinions and biases (usually toward advertisers). Journalists who would "rock the boat" tend never to get hired in the first place. Or even if they do, the company they work for tends to lose advertising and maybe even go out of business.

In other words, the forces shaping journalism are Darwinian (selection, survival of the fittest) rather than Lamarckian (changes in individual organisms -- or reporters).