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CES Ditches CNET After CBS Scandal Over Dish's Hopper
An anonymous reader writes in about the latest fallout from CNET's parent company, CBS banning Dish Network's hopper from reviews and award lists. "The Consumer Electronics Association has not only today bestowed its Best in Show title upon the same Dish Network product that started this whole mess in the first place — in the same release, the group says it will no longer work with CNET. CES has enjoyed a long and productive partnership with CNET and the Best of CES awards,' said Karen Chupka, the CEA's senior vice president for events and conferences. "However, we are concerned the new review policy will have a negative impact on our brand should we continue the awards relationship as currently constructed. We look forward to receiving new ideas to recognize the 'best of the best' products introduced at the International CES.""
The company had zero integrity before the Dish scandal happened. Why would anyone work with them in the first place? Weren't their scammy download site and payola-based game review sites damning enough already?
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
Nice to see...
Wow, this is shocking. And I'm still reeling from the news about the Tour de France, I haven't decided what to do with my chest full of Lance Armstrong memorabilia.
How do you like them apples, CBS?
I had a sucky sig.
A group of nerds being told they have to change their "Best in Show" award because their corporate overlords dislike the winner they chose isn't censorship?
I didn't say it wasn't censorship. I said it wasn't the Streisand Effect. Those are 2 different things. The Streisand Effect implies censorship, but censorship doesn't imply the Streisand Effect. The Streisand Effect had absolutely nothing to do with this story.
Business relationships color the news for all outlets; even NPR and PBS now have "sponsors." About 10 years ago I was watching I think CNBC when RFK Jr. started talking about poor environmental practices of GE, the parent company. The hosts actually shushed him and they immediately cut to commercial. When they came back, RFK Jr. was gone...
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
They may not have believed that no one would learn Dish Network existed, but i'm pretty sure the intent of blocking the award was to prevent endorsing it and advertising it further. Now however more people know that the geeks at CNET wanted to give the product an award than would have known if the management at CNET had just kept their mouths shut and let Dish Network have the award in the first place.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
"Kind of like how some refuse to shop at Walmart, Chick Fill-A, or other companies because they don't like their corporate practices."
Dubious analogy: It would be more like a restaurant critic being ordered not to praise Chick Fil-A's food because Zagat doesn't approve of them.
The story here isn't that CBS dislikes the Dish Hopper; but that the alleged 'journalists' at Cnet have neither the editorial independence nor the integrity to act in the interests of their customers instead of their owners.
What is a dish's hopper?
From the Wikipedia page:
The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.
Isn't that exactly what happened? CBS didn't want the product to earn the award (thus giving it greater recognition and popularity), so they told CNet not to grant it the award, thereby causing extra press attention focused on the product.
If that's not enough to sway you, how about an article from the guy who is widely recognized as starting the phrase "The Streisand Effect", where he also says that this is an example of the effect?
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130111/00145421637/just-how-dumb-is-it-cbs-to-block-cnet-giving-dish-award.shtml
by Mike Masnick
Hello Streisand Effect. There were approximately one gazillion articles this week about products coming out of CES, and the place was wall to wall with journalists -- probably half of whom were coming up with their own "best of" lists. Most people were completely saturated with CES stories and would barely glance at such a story. Except... now, tons of people are suddenly finding out about this awesome Dish DVR, the Hopper with Slingbox.
I think that when the guy that coined the phrase calls it the Streisand Effect, you pretty much have to go with what he says.
I wouldn't have heard about this award if they hadn't tried to censor it. I seriously doubt I'm the only one. Hence Streisand Effect.
I know this is way off topic and I will try and bring it back on in the end... No promises though...lol
It always amuses me the kerfuffle raised when sports athletes get caught using performance enhancing drugs yet people don't say shit about beauty pageant contestants who have had cosmetic surgery just to win those titles.
It all comes down to "follow the money". It is the same with this C/Net / CBS / Dish story. Follow the money. To CBS Dish is cutting off a revenue stream it sees as essential. Dish is seen by them as cheating the system just as much as Lance did. Dish OTOH doesn't see ads as essential since their service is subscription based. So much like Lance, they don't think they did anything wrong.
How's that for trying to bring it back?
This is a sig. This is only a sig. Had this been an actual sig you would have been informed where to tune for more sigs.
In other news, the Confederation of Companies that Rely on Acronyms starting with the letter C (C-CRAC) has revoked the CES's membership for siding with a "D" company that doesn't even understand the value of an acronym over its fellow "C" members. C-SPAN will be carrying live coverage of CNET's appeal.
Indeed. In a proper journalistic enterprise the editors would resign in protest.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Do what Lance Armstrong did with his chest full of "Lance Armstrong memorabilia": Go out and win the Tour de France.
It would be like Dice killing a positive story about Monster on /.
I read the title 5 times and still have no fucking idea what it's about.
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Not sure how long ago it happened, but I became aware of CBS's complete lack of journalistic standards when Dan Rather tried to scuttle the Bush campaign with forged documents.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Well hey. You know, every creator is entitled to ruin their own creation. If this guy wants to do it too, then who am I to argue, but I'll always know that Barbara files suit first.
Originally the Streisand Effect was about trying to keep something from becoming public. That's not what's going on here. This was a product from a nationally known brand at the top of their field. A company that nearly every American is familiar with. And they've been publicizing the heck out of this product/feature. This product has been all over the news for the better part of the last year. It was WAY to late to attempt to suppress knowledge of this thing. And really, if that's what CBS wanted to do, they went about it the wrong way:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/14/3874682/exclusive-cbs-forced-cnet-editors-to-recast-vote-after-hopper-win:
CBS Interactive representatives told The Verge...that the ban on coverage is limited only to specific products implicated in ongoing litigation with CNET's parent company; and that the ban only applied to product reviews and that news coverage would be exempt.
So they supposedly wanted to suppress knowledge of this product but then said "oh, but it's alright to cover news stories about it"?
Sorry, but this isn't Streisand Effect unless you mangle the meaning of the term.
No, better to stay and make them fire you for having integrity. Often they'll back down before that, so you'll get to report accurately and keep your job (while starting to look for another, if you wish).
Learn to love Alaska
I need sleep because it looked like "The CIA surrounded CES since seeing CNET on CBS and served seven scientific sequestrations so somebody sensing a sacking stalls statistical scribes."
They're in a legal dispute with Dish over this. Don't you think it would have been a bit damning to their case for Dish to say in court "but you even gave us awards for how great and innovative of a product it is"?
...spends ages writing a reply, making lots of assumptions based on a sig... clicks submit... goes to read "slashdot.org/~hduff" page, facepalm!
No reference whatsoever to the line of work referred toby me (and the sig), no topics or posts related to it, just a good quote in the sig, from the Police Federation's (UK) magazine for members of the Fed. Yep, a it's a union for frontline (below Inspecter rank) Police officers.
Boy, did I get the wrong end of the, er, baton... (winds neck back in, reminds herself why she was taught "Never assume - ASS U ME makes an ASS of U and ME", straightens hat, whistles, "Move along, nothing to see here folks...")
ps I'll probably get modded Offtopic for the other post, and Insightful for this one - for self-revelation and the ASSUME thing - it's a useful one, that. Remember it - I should have! ;-)
This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
Agreed. I'm the same. Therefore Streisand Effect.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
It wouldn't be a bit damning to their case. CBS would simply have to tell the judge "CNet has editorial independence".
The current situation is far more damning.
At least one did exactly that. It didn't stop them from pursuing the approach they did.
Everyone's a sinner.
I wouldn't go that far. The journalist in question resigned over CBS's refusal to allow him to issue his best of show. What more did you expect him to do? It's not like he can force them to publish his choice...
It works the same in every area of life. You get what you incentivize not what you profess to believe or support.
It is why people cheat in college classes. Many are memory based classes and are designed to encourage cheating regardless of what the professors claim to support.
Anywhere in society you see behavior other than what you want or think the system should have it is because you are giving an incentive for that behavior and no amount of rule changing is going to fix that.
That is why we have can harsh anti-drug laws, anti-cheating codes of conduct, laws about what companies can do etc but as long as the reward is greater than any penalty and the odds of being caught are low people will do what makes the most sense.
Some people do learn though. I see less cheating in engineering classes where the exams are open book, notes, calculator, previous exams etc because it does not do any good. The exams are purely about understanding.
For memorization based classes I see people using Adderall and other drugs to do well in the class and damned be any future consequences. Universities can even say it is bad that people use drugs to pass those classes but nothing they say will really stop it. Mostly the problem is that in the short term the drugs work, you do better in class and people don't care about long term damage.
Most chemistry departments might as well be sponsored by Adderall given how much memorization I see in them. The sad things is so many people studying to become doctors while they damage their brains to do well in tests in the short term.
Computer modeling for biotech drug manufacturing is HARD!
The Bush defense is old and played out. The OP never said anything about defending Bush. Just that CBS flat out lied to discredit him on a specific issue.
-- Slashdot, making the Left look conservative since 1997.
This isn't s freaking law of physics, it's an Internet meme. It's meaning is what people say it is, and everyone except you seems to say otherwise.
> you still want to defend George W.
When did I say anything of the kind?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
>you're a right-winger.
Not everyone fits into one of the two boxes in your tiny little mind, sunshine.
Like any other Libertarian, I'm no fan of GWB, and as it happens my distaste for the current teleprompter-in-chief is due to his failure to reverse any of Bush's power grabs.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
I totally respected you until the "teleprompter" reference. The teleprompter screaming is totally asinine.
Bush couldn't even use a teleprompter. He READ his speeches out of a 3 ring binder. Go look one up!
There is tons criticize Obama for that aren't imagined or silly. You can do better.
In retrospect, a noble cause.
They're in a legal dispute with Dish over this. Don't you think it would have been a bit damning to their case for Dish to say in court "but you even gave us awards for how great and innovative of a product it is"?
Quite irrelevant, since the court isn't deciding if the product is "great and innovative". It's deciding if it's legal. It's easy to think of products that would be great to use, but are arguably illegal.
...is nothing but a rag these days. Spouting pro-Apple gibberish all over the place and discounting other, more promising tech. Doesn't surprise me their lack of independence went so far as to fully censoring a product that 'the company' didn't like. It's ridiculous and no one should take this from a 'news' source. There's better sites out there anyways. Cnet writing is garbage.
The truth is always the noblest cause.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
I think the space of a post on Slashdot is a little too small to rattle off the shortcomings of Obama.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Originally the Streisand Effect was about trying to keep something from becoming public. That's not what's going on here. This was a product from a nationally known brand at the top of their field. A company that nearly every American is familiar with. And they've been publicizing the heck out of this product/feature. This product has been all over the news for the better part of the last year. It was WAY to late to attempt to suppress knowledge of this thing.
This is the first I have heard of this awesome new box, the Hopper. I guess it's possible that I would have heard of it also if it won the award. But then it would not have a nice stick-it-to-the-man story attached to it and I may have just skimmed over an announcement of a device that can't touch what my MythBox already does. So to me it looks like they drove attention to a device they wanted people not to notice. A perfect example of the Streisand Effect, different from the original, but still the same effect.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
"While Dan Rather attempts to rationalize the network's heartless decision to air this despicable 'terrorist propaganda video,' it is beyond our comprehension that any mother, wife, father or sister should have to relive this horrific tragedy and watch their loved one being repeatedly terrorized," the family said.
"Terrorists have made this video confident that the American media would broadcast it and thereby serve their exact purpose. By showing this video, CBS or any other broadcaster willing to show it proves that they fall without shame into the terrorists' plan."
-- Mariane Pearl, May 15, 2002
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
The Dish Hopper is somewhat of a joke, It is a way to convert satellite broadcast into streaming - you see, it isn't a DVR at all but a device that requests something be saved for you at Dish Network HQ. Then, later you can have it streamed to you over the Internet. They claim the device is limited to 2000 hours, but this would appear to be an entirely arbitrary number. Since your "saved" content is likely shared with everyone else, why would there be any limit at all?
Do you really think that they are saving a unique copy of Two Broke Girls rather than simply having one that everyone shares?
Unfortunately, it is going to suffer the same fate as all streaming - congestion. We are starting to see streaming degrading because of Internet congestion now and it is only going to get worse as time goes on. Having a faster link from the "head end" to the home isn't going to fix it as long as we have a node configuration where a node feeds a neighborhood - both FIOS and every cable and DSL system utilizes this sort of configuration.
Cox in Phoenix is trying to be forward looking and reducing the number of homes per node from 1000 to 500 and that may help somewhat. But with higher and higher bandwidth expectations (see Netflix recent announcement), once we move into a point where streaming is being done by a large number of households it would have to be more like 100 homes per node - and that isn't going to happen without major restructuring. Major, as in when we moved cable from RF to digital distribution.
Most other cable networks are at 1000 homes per node and maybe 1Gb feed to each node. That means if homes are hoping for 10Mb/sec streaming only a 1 in 10 is going to get it. When we get past 1 in 10 streaming, that is about the end for streaming as a distribution technique.
So how long could the Hopper possibly last? Maybe three years. Maybe. Converting from satellite broadcast to streaming is a silly thing for Dish to be doing as there is no impending collapse of satellite distribution. Sort of like Netflix dropping,or thinking about and quickly forgetting about dropping DVD distribution.
I have three Roku boxes and an Apple TV box. I expect them all to be paperweights in 1-2 years.
I think I can clarify something here.
The knowledge of the existence of the Dish Network Hopper wasn't being censored.
The knowledge that it has WON best in show by CNET is what was being censored.
And possibly the actual fact of the winning itself was being overruled for corporate reasons, not legitimate technical ones.
So from that perspective - Streisand Effect.
Your side lost. get over it.
This is the first I have heard of this awesome new box, the Hopper.
rollseyes at Slashdot nerds who don't notice anything outside of nerd culture.
There have been commercials about the damn thing for months now.....and for DirecTV's equivalent "Genie". But you, being a slashdot nerd, will probably claim that you wrote a shell script for your MythTV box that uses ffmpeg or transcode to automatically analyze tv shows and strip commercials out of what little you record, and besides you only watch fansubbed anime in MKV format anway.
No, actually it's all Netflix and Torrents lately. We even got rid of the cable TV.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
actually it's all Netflix and Torrents lately.
So fansubbed Anime in MKV it is then. :-)
Bush couldn't even use a teleprompter.
It saddens me that you don't even realize how pathetic it is to make excuses for Obama by comparing him to Bush.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Which of course would lead one to conclude that such vehement defense of a individual's strict definition of the Streisand Effect is a fine example of the "Almost dumb enough to be a lawyer" effect.
better to stay
You ever had a bos that considered you his enemy? Not disliked you, or enjoyed making your life hell, but considered you an enemy?
That is an untenible and professionally dangerous situation.
Bosses HATE being questioned or shown-up. They DISPISE being publically humiliated and being exposed as unethicle, and possibly a criminal. That's not the sort of thing they're likely to laugh about over drinks later.
Being a boss is about being in control. If they loose that, they've been gelded as a boss.
THINK! It's patriotic
You ever had a bos that considered you his enemy? Not disliked you, or enjoyed making your life hell, but considered you an enemy?
Yes, and I didn't walk out at the first sign on enmity. I told him it was all ok, and I found a better job while still collecting a paycheck. Walking out usually hurts the person walking out worst.
Learn to love Alaska