4 ms·

It was nice of the New York Times to publish Amazon's press release as an article.

by AdamH12113 3y ago

seydor 3y ago
and put it behind paywall
- figassis 3y ago
  We should tell Amazon that. Will be free by tomorrow.
terminous 3y ago
Are you familiar with the state of tech 'journalism' over the past few decades?
- 93po 3y ago
  It’s all journalism. If you ever have the displeasure of having to watch and listen to local news, every other segment is talking about some great product or talking to some author selling a weight loss book. Even national “news” like good morning America is basically just nonstop advertising
crazygringo 3y ago
I honestly have to ask, what are you talking about? I just read the article and it's nothing like a press release. Yes, it's announcing this new product, but that's because this is a genuinely newsworthy entrance of Amazon into this space. And the article contains lots of context and comparisons that, you know, is what reporting is about and what press releases aren't. So what's the purpose of your comment? Do you think newspapers shouldn't report news? Or how would you write the article for this story instead? What is your actual criticism here?
- AdamH12113 3y ago
  Aside from the one sentence about Amazon "racing to shake off the perception that it is lagging behind [in AI]", the article: * Lists the features of Q as described by Amazon, without commentary. * Exclusively and uncritically quotes an Amazon executive. * Mentions other, competing products only as a lead-in to how Q is allegedly superior, without any substantive comparison. * Was published only a couple hours after Amazon's actual press release[1], so it's not like the NYT had time to do any real work. * Briefly mentions other AI-related Amazon activities announced in other press releases today[2], again without commentary. * Features no third-party expertise or independent research to provide context for the core claim, which is that addressing security and privacy concerns will convince organizations to allow chatbots to access their data, and (critically) that it is feasible for Amazon to provide this feature. * Makes no mention of why it might have taken Amazon longer than other companies to announce an AI product, which is the only interesting context they provided in this article. Of course it's not literally a press release. But it's not much else, either. I guess that's what passes for business news. The best argument against calling this article a press release is that it misses the key message of the actual PR, which is that Q is supposed to help people use all the complicated AWS features. [1] https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-announces-amazon-q-to-reimagine-the-future-of-work https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-announces-amazon-q... [2] https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-and-nvidia-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-offer-new-supercomputing-infrastructure-software-and-services-for-generative-ai https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-and-nvidia-announc...
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    Like you said, it came out a couple of hours after Amazon's announcement. So it's basic, timely reporting of news. The product isn't out yet, so there isn't much more to add. Beyond the general context, there isn't any "substantive comparison" that anyone can make yet. I still don't understand what you want. You think the NYT just shouldn't report the announcement and its context in a timely manner at all? Or you expect it to achieve this impossible task of a bunch of substantive analysis from third parties when nobody's gotten a chance to use it yet? The way the news works is, important breaking news gets announced quickly with basic context -- exactly the way this story is. Then, after people try something out and there are actually reactions to report on, a deeper "analysis" story tends to come out. But publishing breaking news isn't publishing a "press release". And it's disingenuous to conflate the two. Do you really think the NYT shouldn't publish any news except for full analysis articles that take days to research and write?

It was nice of the New York Times to publish Amazon's press release as an article.

seydor 3y ago

and put it behind paywall

figassis 3y ago
We should tell Amazon that. Will be free by tomorrow.

terminous 3y ago

Are you familiar with the state of tech 'journalism' over the past few decades?

93po 3y ago
It’s all journalism. If you ever have the displeasure of having to watch and listen to local news, every other segment is talking about some great product or talking to some author selling a weight loss book. Even national “news” like good morning America is basically just nonstop advertising

crazygringo 3y ago

I honestly have to ask, what are you talking about? I just read the article and it's nothing like a press release. Yes, it's announcing this new product, but that's because this is a genuinely newsworthy entrance of Amazon into this space. And the article contains lots of context and comparisons that, you know, is what reporting is about and what press releases aren't. So what's the purpose of your comment? Do you think newspapers shouldn't report news? Or how would you write the article for this story instead? What is your actual criticism here?

AdamH12113 3y ago
Aside from the one sentence about Amazon "racing to shake off the perception that it is lagging behind [in AI]", the article: * Lists the features of Q as described by Amazon, without commentary. * Exclusively and uncritically quotes an Amazon executive. * Mentions other, competing products only as a lead-in to how Q is allegedly superior, without any substantive comparison. * Was published only a couple hours after Amazon's actual press release[1], so it's not like the NYT had time to do any real work. * Briefly mentions other AI-related Amazon activities announced in other press releases today[2], again without commentary. * Features no third-party expertise or independent research to provide context for the core claim, which is that addressing security and privacy concerns will convince organizations to allow chatbots to access their data, and (critically) that it is feasible for Amazon to provide this feature. * Makes no mention of why it might have taken Amazon longer than other companies to announce an AI product, which is the only interesting context they provided in this article. Of course it's not literally a press release. But it's not much else, either. I guess that's what passes for business news. The best argument against calling this article a press release is that it misses the key message of the actual PR, which is that Q is supposed to help people use all the complicated AWS features. [1] https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-announces-amazon-q-to-reimagine-the-future-of-work https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-announces-amazon-q... [2] https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-and-nvidia-announce-strategic-collaboration-to-offer-new-supercomputing-infrastructure-software-and-services-for-generative-ai https://press.aboutamazon.com/2023/11/aws-and-nvidia-announc...
- crazygringo 3y ago
  Like you said, it came out a couple of hours after Amazon's announcement. So it's basic, timely reporting of news. The product isn't out yet, so there isn't much more to add. Beyond the general context, there isn't any "substantive comparison" that anyone can make yet. I still don't understand what you want. You think the NYT just shouldn't report the announcement and its context in a timely manner at all? Or you expect it to achieve this impossible task of a bunch of substantive analysis from third parties when nobody's gotten a chance to use it yet? The way the news works is, important breaking news gets announced quickly with basic context -- exactly the way this story is. Then, after people try something out and there are actually reactions to report on, a deeper "analysis" story tends to come out. But publishing breaking news isn't publishing a "press release". And it's disingenuous to conflate the two. Do you really think the NYT shouldn't publish any news except for full analysis articles that take days to research and write?