Hard times for internet biggies
Man, it’s been a rough couple of weeks for Gawker, CNET, Facebook, etc. Editors disgruntled, editors leaving, editors being wrongfully and egregiously fired, readers / users up in arms at these and other offenses and disappointments (as they should be!).
Let me tell you, there’s an unbelievable amount of pressure in the internet big leagues. But let’s be fair — and I’ll try to spare the righteousness / comeuppance is a bitch — would any of these companies be in this spot if they didn’t all do something (or years of somethings) to deserve it?
Final, wandering thought on the Gerstmann scandal (which I’ve been paying very, very close attention to). Although it’s technically impossible to know what happened between he and GameSpot (until someone officially steps forward, which looks unlikely at this point), the lessons are still clear. There is no audience without trust, and there is no trust without credibility and fairness — both things you never, EVER tamper with. As a fellow editor, I’m extremely sorry to witness these events transpire, and my support for Jeff Gerstmann knows no bounds. Still, like McCrackengate before it, I’m somehow really glad this happened, as it reminds everyone — audience included — that standards and quality are still king.
P.S. -Yeah, I’m glossing over a couple of other bad-tech-press-moments here… Apple (duh), Apple, Verizon and Scoble, who else?
On a related note, I think you handled the recent Apple ad fiasco on your site very well. While I have made my thoughts known regarding the “tipping point” of advertising on free sites, I think your willingness to pull the plug on ads that cause problems (or at least take the issues seriously and work on them) was commendable.
Comment by Vance — Wednesday, December 5, 2007 @ 9:41 am
Ryan — I’m sure you get these all the time, too, but I’m increasingly getting emails from advertisers asking for coverage “under the guise” of news, etc.
It’s probably the most difficult part of working in a field where the subjects we cover are the ones who pay to advertise with us. But, like you said, without a church/state separation, there’s no way we can be trusted by our readers.
Comment by junger — Thursday, December 6, 2007 @ 9:03 am
[...] the statement of independence disenfranchised Game Spot readers have been looking for in the wake of that editorial scandal. Posted in Tech | Tagged CNET • GameSpot • Giant Bomb • video games RSS feed [...]
Pingback by Giant Bomb goes off this summer » Ryan Block — Friday, March 7, 2008 @ 12:55 pm