Morrie the Toupee Salesman » faux-journalism

This Explains So Much (If it’s true)…

Owen — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:16:07 +0000

One of the things I dislike rather intensely about the “blogosphere,” especially as evidenced by what appears on the front page of techmeme, is the “echo chamber” effect. A typical tech story generally starts as a press release, and then the usual suspects weigh in with their opinions. Techcrunch, Mashable, Readwriteweb, Gigaom, etc, etc would all publish articles that seemingly just rehash the press release, with little analysis and few differences of opinion. I’m sure there’s lots of smart people working at all these companies, so the seeming lack of diversity in thought was just plain disappointing. I’ve come to enjoy Valleywag very much for this reason, because among all the publications coming out of San Francisco, they seemed to be the only one that showed even a hint of subversion. Much of my cynicism was probably fueled by my digg experiences, a company and website that I really hoped would actually fulfill its mission of “democratizing media,” and instead did the exact opposite.

So the revelation this week, perhaps, that some of these sites were using a tool called Datapresser almost makes me feel good about these people again. Instead of a group of people echoing back and forth their own opinions, full of puffery and pomposity, I can actually imagine a different picture – young, generally underpaid individuals, smart and with interesting opinions, but under terrific pressure to produce as many posts as possible each day, according to a formula set by the people running things. Plus its a Canadian company making money off the whole thing.

So that’s kind of encouraging, in a perverse sort of way. Although there’s still some doubt in my mind that it might be an elaborate hoax. And while I’m being critical of blogs, there are much greater offenders in the print media (Hello Business Week…).

Someone Other Than Me Notices How Crappy Tech “Journalism” Is

Owen — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:21:19 +0000

Having been on the receiving end of Sarah Lacy’s pathetic attempts at journalism, all I can say about Chris Shipley’s piece entitled “Shoddy Reporting, Invective and Arrogance. Yeah, I Want Some of That.” is “Yay”.

And Robert Scoble? He sure seems like a nice guy, but he writes huge mounds of crap.

Men write code from Mars, Women write ridiculous and harmful generalizations

Owen — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:34:18 +0000

It’s not hard to see what’s wrong with journalism in an article like this one:

“Men, on the other hand, have no such pretenses. Often, “they try to show how clever they are by writing very cryptic code,” she tells the Business Technology Blog. “They try to obfuscate things in the code,” and don’t leave clear directions for people using it later. McGrattan boasts that 70% to 80% of the time, she can look at a chunk of computer code and tell if it was written by a man or a woman.”

The pathetic quality of this article aside, if I was a male programmer who reported to Ms. Grattan I’d be hiring a lawyer right now. Ridiculous and bigoted generalizations aren’t any better directed at men than at women.

A Sad Day for Social News (maybe)

Owen — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:22:37 +0000

Hacker News might be banning valleywag. Michael Arrington crows. Valleywag is basically a techcrunch competitor. They report on the same companies, the same people. The difference is the editorial slant. Instead of the hushed reverence of the business press, they have a tabloid mentality. So basically they’re being banned not for their content, or for spamming, or any of the other unwritten conventions of social news sites. They’re being banned for their editorial stance. It’s ironic, because I remember the same antipathy towards techcrunch at another social news site (where I worked).

Journalism and the English Language

Owen — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 14:56:10 +0000

Sometimes I get slightly crotchety over word usage, probably more than I should. But when I see something written by someone who probably thinks of themselves as a professional journalist, I guess I expect more. So when someone writes:

“But Windows Live Spaces doesn’t have the cutting-edge user interface or the Web 2.0 cache that Flickr has.”

in a large, reputable publication like wired.com, well I want to whip out a dictionary and start hitting them with it.

From dictionary.com:

cache:
- noun
1. a hiding place, esp. one in the ground, for ammunition, food, treasures, etc.: She hid her jewelry in a little cache in the cellar.
2. anything so hidden: The enemy never found our cache of food.
3. (Alaska and Northern Canada) a small shed elevated on poles above the reach of animals and used for storing food, equipment, etc.
…

and the word they really wanted:

cachet:
- noun
1. an official seal, as on a letter or document.
2. a distinguishing mark or feature; stamp: Courtesy is the cachet of good breeding.
3. a sign or expression of approval, esp. from a person who has a great deal of prestige.
4. superior status; prestige: The job has a certain cachet.
5. Pharmacology. a hollow wafer for enclosing an ill-tasting medicine.
6. Philately. a firm name, slogan, or design stamped or printed on an envelope or folded letter.

I sometimes wonder about the state of the US educational system.