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Wow. Techcrunch defended journalistic integrity, and i actually believe them. They're right, this is a problem, and it's being highlighted in the correct manne

Wow. Techcrunch defended journalistic integrity, and i actually believe them. They're right, this is a problem, and it's being highlighted in the correct manner. The other broader issue that has to be dealt with is that this is the face of the new media landscape. Where do you think journalists and writers have left to go in the collapse of the news media? PR flacks often times have journalism degrees, and the only people left paying for flacks are big corporates and their pr departments.

joebadmo 15y ago
Yeah, the 3 to 1 ration he cites is, when I think about, surprisingly low, considering where the money comes from, and how easy being a PR flack is compared to being a serious journalist who breaks actual news.
Steko 15y ago
I couldn't help but notice the irony of TC's "Tonight We Dine in Hell" (which you just knew was an MG Siegler post before clicking through) right below the "AOL Hell" link. MG is one of the stars of the "AOL Way" but at least in this case and with the Project Spartan break, he's committed some real and quality journalism.
- yuhong 15y ago
  Though I think MG's writing style etc. dates back before the acquisition by AOL. Overall this acquisition did not go particularly badly IMO. The AOL-Huffington Post acquisition was a lot worse.
- fryguy 15y ago
  I was shocked that it was MG was writing it, since I scrolled up to the top about halfway through the article to check out who wrote it. There weren't any rabid apple fanboy comments, and it was somewhat well-written, and usually it's Michael Arrington that writes the anti-PR articles. Maybe he will be more of a journalist in the future, and my unsubscription from techcrunch in my rss reader will have been wrong.
  - stickfigure 15y ago
    I was also very surprised to discover (after the fact) that this was an MG article. I normally skip his articles; the problem isn't the fanboyism, it's that he writes like he's being paid by the word. They're all three times longer than they should be, and I long ago got tired of straining the soup for a few morsels of real information. Someone needs to give MG a collection of Hemingway's short stories for Xmas.
    - palish 15y ago
      I too had the exact same experience: scrolled up halfway through to see whether Arrington wrote this, and was surprised to see it was MG.
yuhong 15y ago
IMO it is time to move to "PR 2.0", which is not based on controlling the message.
temphn 15y ago
A journalist arrogates to himself the right to take your confidential code and splatter it on the internet in return for advertising pageviews. Siegler profits directly from leaks. Do you deny this? And FB does not profit from leaks. So this has nothing to do with integrity. What does printing something marked "confidential" have to do with integrity? Siegler is just mad that FB got someone to post their side of the story.
- jamesaguilar 15y ago
  When I read this my concern was that journalists like to see things in a narrative of battle and conflict. Even non-war journalists want to be war journalists, so they write about war, even when there is no war. Personally I don't see enough evidence to support Siegler's certainty of an all out attack on Apple by Facebook. He's even more likely to see it this way I guess because of his open bias in favor of all things Apple. (I say, as an Apple fanboy myself.) On the other hand, some company executives like to see things in a violent narrative too. They're all about crushing the competition and storming the market. So maybe Facebook's leadership sees their relationship with Apple the same way Siegler does. Hard to know.
  - knowtheory 15y ago
    That's fair enough, the narrative frame here is certainly needlessly hyperbolic. I guess that i've (depressingly) become acclimated to the level of breathless ranting that TC operates at. Certainly we can say that there is a tension between native and HTML5 apps, which is of interest to any dev that's interested in mobile devices. That Apple's and Facebook's interest do not align here is an interesting story. Especially with Facebook throwing their weight behind HTML5 apps. How that relationship is actually handled between Apple and Facebook is indeed another matter, and also something that would be interesting to know.
- benologist 15y ago
  Siegler's not mad at all. TC loves controversy, it's even easier money then churning out Apple pieces.
- 15y ago

joebadmo 15y ago

Yeah, the 3 to 1 ration he cites is, when I think about, surprisingly low, considering where the money comes from, and how easy being a PR flack is compared to being a serious journalist who breaks actual news.

Steko 15y ago

I couldn't help but notice the irony of TC's "Tonight We Dine in Hell" (which you just knew was an MG Siegler post before clicking through) right below the "AOL Hell" link. MG is one of the stars of the "AOL Way" but at least in this case and with the Project Spartan break, he's committed some real and quality journalism.

yuhong 15y ago
Though I think MG's writing style etc. dates back before the acquisition by AOL. Overall this acquisition did not go particularly badly IMO. The AOL-Huffington Post acquisition was a lot worse.
fryguy 15y ago
I was shocked that it was MG was writing it, since I scrolled up to the top about halfway through the article to check out who wrote it. There weren't any rabid apple fanboy comments, and it was somewhat well-written, and usually it's Michael Arrington that writes the anti-PR articles. Maybe he will be more of a journalist in the future, and my unsubscription from techcrunch in my rss reader will have been wrong.
- stickfigure 15y ago
  I was also very surprised to discover (after the fact) that this was an MG article. I normally skip his articles; the problem isn't the fanboyism, it's that he writes like he's being paid by the word. They're all three times longer than they should be, and I long ago got tired of straining the soup for a few morsels of real information. Someone needs to give MG a collection of Hemingway's short stories for Xmas.
  - palish 15y ago
    I too had the exact same experience: scrolled up halfway through to see whether Arrington wrote this, and was surprised to see it was MG.

yuhong 15y ago

IMO it is time to move to "PR 2.0", which is not based on controlling the message.

temphn 15y ago

A journalist arrogates to himself the right to take your confidential code and splatter it on the internet in return for advertising pageviews. Siegler profits directly from leaks. Do you deny this? And FB does not profit from leaks. So this has nothing to do with integrity. What does printing something marked "confidential" have to do with integrity? Siegler is just mad that FB got someone to post their side of the story.

jamesaguilar 15y ago
When I read this my concern was that journalists like to see things in a narrative of battle and conflict. Even non-war journalists want to be war journalists, so they write about war, even when there is no war. Personally I don't see enough evidence to support Siegler's certainty of an all out attack on Apple by Facebook. He's even more likely to see it this way I guess because of his open bias in favor of all things Apple. (I say, as an Apple fanboy myself.) On the other hand, some company executives like to see things in a violent narrative too. They're all about crushing the competition and storming the market. So maybe Facebook's leadership sees their relationship with Apple the same way Siegler does. Hard to know.
- knowtheory 15y ago
  That's fair enough, the narrative frame here is certainly needlessly hyperbolic. I guess that i've (depressingly) become acclimated to the level of breathless ranting that TC operates at. Certainly we can say that there is a tension between native and HTML5 apps, which is of interest to any dev that's interested in mobile devices. That Apple's and Facebook's interest do not align here is an interesting story. Especially with Facebook throwing their weight behind HTML5 apps. How that relationship is actually handled between Apple and Facebook is indeed another matter, and also something that would be interesting to know.
benologist 15y ago
Siegler's not mad at all. TC loves controversy, it's even easier money then churning out Apple pieces.
15y ago