△ MENU/TOP △

Holtz Communications + Technology

Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
SearchClose Icon

Tech journalism at a crossroads

The January 2 edition of John C. Dvorak’s video podcast CrankyGeeks  is must-viewing for PR practitioners, and in particular those who work for technology clients. Dvorak’s guests include New York Times writers John Markoff and Gregg Zachary, who offer an intriguing take on the state of technology journalism; inadvertent release of a journalist’s dossier maintained by PR firm Waggener Edstrom for its client Microsoft. The mistaken release wasn’t the point of the discussion; it merely revealed that Waggener Edstrom maintains such dossiers, a clear attempt to control Microsoft’s media coverage.

Agree or disagree with the panel’s views and conclusions, it’s captivating viewing for those of us working in this field.

01/05/08 | 3 Comments | Tech journalism at a crossroads

Comments

  • 1.Shel, thanks for pointing this out. It echoes some of the same themes we found at Fusion PR in our survey on the impact of social media on tech journalism over the summer (see http://fusionpr.blogspot.com/search?q=impaCT), and that I further discussed on my blog (http://www.flacksrevenge.com/2007/09/social-media-im.html)

    "Zachary suggested that the day is approaching when technology reporters won?t be necessary at all"

    Hmmm.... although social media is creating seismic shifts, and changing the way news is packaged and delivered, there is greater need for timely, authoritative content than ever, so I am not sure I agree with this statement. Further, many in tech PR are seeing increases in business, not extinction.

    The ones who will survive and thrive - both in tech journo and PR... will be the ones that embrace change.

    Bob Geller | January 2008 | NYC

  • 2.Shel and Neville - Happy New Year and have a great 2008. Having been on both sides of this fence, I know that standards, especially critical standards, have plumetted. In the broadcast engineering sector, many of the journalists have never made a TV or radio show and therefore rehash the press release to please the pay-master. There is very little, if any, feedback to the editorial teams on the freebie tech magazines and so if no-one complains, why bother? I don't think it is the fault of the social media sites. It is the poor business model of the publishers. When on the marketing side, I found that by pushing copy out in October (when double issues for Dec/Jan were being prepared) and using a journalistic prose instead of a stupid press release, the copy was lifted word for word. I always put in a number/fact which was slightly different in each article ("less than 10" or "more that eight", enabling me to trace quite often who grabbed what from who. It is for that reason that I tend to trust reviewers in the blogosphere who I know are doing stuff with passion rather than any technical mag.

    Jonathan Marks | January 2008 | Amsterdam area

  • 3.A new week brings a new post from Jo!
    1. Is PR ready for 2008? After reading this am not so sure.
    2. The McCanns are in talks about bringing the story of missing Madeline to the Hollywood big screen. Apparently there trying to bring the story to a &#82...

    http://strivepr.com/wordpress/2008/01/10/january&# | January 2008

Comment Form

« Back