The New York Times loves a good "but" — readers can count on any good Times story to change track about halfway through. It's just the "manufactured conflict" method of journalism. But the dirtiest trick from the Times is the end-of-article gotcha, which throws the reader into confusion about the entire story that preceded it. For example:

The fact remains, however, that for technology firms, venture investing is a delicate balancing act. "The types of deals that might be strategic to the corporation might not be the most financially attractive," Ms. Munce of I.B.M said.

The opposite can be true, too. While not strictly a venture play, Yahoo reported a gain of $563 million last year from a $10 million investment it had made years earlier as part of a technology agreement with a promising start-up. That start-up was Google.

Venture Investing as a Strategy, Not to Make Money [New York Times]

Contact information for this author is not available.