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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

by 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.
knowtheory 15y ago
Really? Do you see any code being published here? And, furthermore, Facebook does not profit from leaks here. But tech companies, especially FB, are more than happy to use leaks and whisper campaigns to their benefit, as we well know, and as is reiterated in this article. And even if Techcrunch were to disappear, Facebook and their PR team would still be there, lobbying politicians, and putting out favorable stories about their company. To that extent, i agree with TechCrunch, that their interests align better with the general public's than Facebook's do. So long as TechCrunch is interested in an accurate portrayal of how these tech companies actually function, and how their interests are, or are not aligned with the other forces they must contend with, that is actual journalism, with public utility. I loathe TC's stupid gossipy coverage of the bullshit that individual VCs are pulling, or who Arrington has happened to have pissed off today. But what Facebook, Apple and Google are up to is certainly of the public interest, especially as they are the forces which determine a good deal of the landscape for the consumer internet. That tech companies are brazenly trying to squash information that is tactically inconvenient to them is far more disturbing to me than whatever malfeasance you're ascribing to TechCrunch here.

by temphn 15y ago

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.

knowtheory 15y ago

Really? Do you see any code being published here? And, furthermore, Facebook does not profit from leaks here. But tech companies, especially FB, are more than happy to use leaks and whisper campaigns to their benefit, as we well know, and as is reiterated in this article. And even if Techcrunch were to disappear, Facebook and their PR team would still be there, lobbying politicians, and putting out favorable stories about their company. To that extent, i agree with TechCrunch, that their interests align better with the general public's than Facebook's do. So long as TechCrunch is interested in an accurate portrayal of how these tech companies actually function, and how their interests are, or are not aligned with the other forces they must contend with, that is actual journalism, with public utility. I loathe TC's stupid gossipy coverage of the bullshit that individual VCs are pulling, or who Arrington has happened to have pissed off today. But what Facebook, Apple and Google are up to is certainly of the public interest, especially as they are the forces which determine a good deal of the landscape for the consumer internet. That tech companies are brazenly trying to squash information that is tactically inconvenient to them is far more disturbing to me than whatever malfeasance you're ascribing to TechCrunch here.