Re: cjr.org/business_of_news/tech-journalism.php

‘Let Companies Do Their Own PR, Even if This Comes at The Cost of Clicks’. James Ball, Columbia Journalism Review, on the effects that years of a “compliant and often cheerleading media” have left on the technology press’ ability to be a watchdog in the industry:

The result is the big four tech giants have a head start of 25 or more years in building their business models and laying their groundwork ahead of receiving serious scrutiny—and today, detailed scrutiny could hardly be more important. For most of the past decade, these companies were untroubled by media incident, perhaps to their own detriment: If Facebook had faced tougher questions on moderation earlier, it would have been much easier to address and build in as it scaled up—which would have helped the global information ecosystem, too. […]

Maybe we should simply scrap the idea of a “tech desk” altogether: The sector needs scrutiny, but since technology now touches every aspect of our society, keeping it siloed from the rest of the newsroom now feels artificial. Let it be covered, extensively, across desks.

Tuesday, 24 July 2018