Dan Lyons (Fake Steve Jobs), in his eagerness to prove that I'm truly a Journalist, points to a talk I gave called "Opportunities and Dangers for Journalism."
Except—oops! That wasn't the title of my TALK. That was the title of the CONFERENCE!
"Opportunities and Dangers for Journalism: An All-Day Conference." Check it out: [bit.ly]
My talk was a funny introduction to Twitter and Web 2.0.
@poguenyt: Wow. Talk about missing the point, quibbling over shadings and thus confirming the diagnosis.
Dan Lyons, as mean as he can be, at least has a healthy skepticism that's called for in writing about products being pushed by big corporations -- or being pushed by non-journalists.
What's the shocker here? It's true. I write an opinion column, and a pretty goofy one at that. I don't think that makes me a "reporter" or even a "Journalist."
When I hear "journalist," I think of something serious. Someone who writes news stories. Someone who "gets the story," calls witnesses, looks up documents, pursues leads...
I review gadgets.
A Lexis search for "Pogue+journalist" doesn't change that.
@Pogueman: So, if a movie critic -- also not a terribly serious job worthy of the appellation "journalist" -- had product tie-ins with a movie he was raving about but turned out to have "Ishtar"-sized holes in it, you wouldn't see a problem. Okay.
The whole "gadget reviewer" thing points to precisely the problem with a lot of what passes for technology coverage, on the blogs you deride, and even on NPR, which has its own gadget segment now. I remember when the old BYTE magazine gradually turned into yet another PC Magazine-style product catalog and I knew a fun phase of microcomputers had passed, to be replaced by another cynical, hype-filled arm of the consumer culture.
Journalistic integrity in tech writing is kind of dumb. It isn't real journalism to begin with. Most people go into it with no training like I did, and the only reason I did it was because I got free shit.
@Kebie: But the point is you can't have it both ways. You're perfectly free to admit you're a shill and then to write like one. And that's sort of what he's doing here.
However, he's never had a problem with either calling himself, or allowing others to call him a journalist in the past. So let's see what his attitude is going forward. Is he "just a blogger" from now on? Or is he going to continue to call himself a journalist (or at least imply it) when he thinks it benefits him to be considered one?
Questions about truth, beauty, the american way and different shades of journo-integrity notwithstanding (and I know, I know, that's a lot to notwithstand), here's the bottom line on Pogue's interview and how it's been played: Dumb to say he's not a journalist, and kind of dumb (but predictable) to make that the banner/screaming cyberheadline. Far more important and interesting is that the guy =asked his editors to make industry ties/book deals= repeatedly. From where I sit, that absolves him. That's all a reporter can do, and it's a lot of 'em don't. He did. Also, he makes the case that when he interviewed Jobs, he was doing so at his editors' requests. I think he comes off looking pretty good here, and that he's taken some cheap shots.
Just as an aside, this is the reason why art criticism, especially literary and theatrical, is dead. Especially in Canada. A reviewer needs to be completely separate from any possible subject of any possible piece. And if a reporter is required to act as both reviewer and interviewer (like I am with my city paper, when I write), then every review is contaminated. Every time you write something potentially negative as review, you're writing about a small community of really fuckin' touchy people. And almost no paper in the country keeps a dedicated book/theater reviewer.
@iplaudius: Journalism, in the sense of what is being taught to students, i.e. objectivity, fact reporting, investigations, etc., has turned into a very small segment of what one might describe as the "media market." One reason is simply because it's boring (example: school board meeting. Voted on something. Quote. The end.) or it's insanely expensive, which makes it increasingly more difficult to monetize, even if one were to ignore the internets. There is this unholy industrial complex funding and fueling the media and it's okay to own it. PR, marketing and advertising isn't evil and coming to terms that your journalism degree will probably result in you either being woefully underpaid or writing proposals for other writers to write articles about whatever your client is paying you, directly or indirectly to write about. It's fine. But it's time to give up the ghost.
Gawker's point -- that the gap means Steve lied -- doesn't make any sense. The gap implies that Apple considered adding a camera. Steve said they bagged the camera because they decided to focus on keeping the cost down. Basically, he admitted that they considered a camera!
11/13/09
09/23/09
Dan Lyons (Fake Steve Jobs), in his eagerness to prove that I'm truly a Journalist, points to a talk I gave called "Opportunities and Dangers for Journalism."
Except—oops! That wasn't the title of my TALK. That was the title of the CONFERENCE!
"Opportunities and Dangers for Journalism: An All-Day Conference." Check it out: [bit.ly]
My talk was a funny introduction to Twitter and Web 2.0.
Does that make Dan not-a-journalist, too?
--Pogue
09/23/09
Dan Lyons, as mean as he can be, at least has a healthy skepticism that's called for in writing about products being pushed by big corporations -- or being pushed by non-journalists.
09/23/09
When I hear "journalist," I think of something serious. Someone who writes news stories. Someone who "gets the story," calls witnesses, looks up documents, pursues leads...
I review gadgets.
A Lexis search for "Pogue+journalist" doesn't change that.
--Pogue
09/23/09
The whole "gadget reviewer" thing points to precisely the problem with a lot of what passes for technology coverage, on the blogs you deride, and even on NPR, which has its own gadget segment now. I remember when the old BYTE magazine gradually turned into yet another PC Magazine-style product catalog and I knew a fun phase of microcomputers had passed, to be replaced by another cynical, hype-filled arm of the consumer culture.
09/22/09
09/22/09
09/22/09
However, he's never had a problem with either calling himself, or allowing others to call him a journalist in the past. So let's see what his attitude is going forward. Is he "just a blogger" from now on? Or is he going to continue to call himself a journalist (or at least imply it) when he thinks it benefits him to be considered one?
09/22/09
09/22/09
09/22/09
Just as an aside, this is the reason why art criticism, especially literary and theatrical, is dead. Especially in Canada. A reviewer needs to be completely separate from any possible subject of any possible piece. And if a reporter is required to act as both reviewer and interviewer (like I am with my city paper, when I write), then every review is contaminated. Every time you write something potentially negative as review, you're writing about a small community of really fuckin' touchy people. And almost no paper in the country keeps a dedicated book/theater reviewer.
09/22/09
09/22/09
09/22/09
09/22/09
09/22/09
09/14/09
09/14/09
09/14/09
09/14/09