The real reason fanboys hate tech reporters
Farhad Manjoo had me at “On hot-button issues — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the Mac-PC divide — we’re quick to see bias in even the most objective news.” He’s penned a solid read about that pestering bit which really ought not be as prevalent as it actually is in the wonderful field of writing about tech: the kicking-and-screaming high-intensity “BIAS!” that usually seems to be more in the head of the gadget fan in question than the editorial.
I’ll leave you with this pull: “If I see the world as all black and you see the world as all white and some person comes along and says it’s partially black and partially white, we both are going to be unhappy. You think there are more facts and better facts on your side than on the other side. The very act of giving them equal weight seems like bias. Like inappropriate evenhandedness.”
As an attorney, I see this with negotiating deals for my clients as well, and a judge once put it to me very well. He said “I know I have done my job if both sides to a civil case go away unhappy”.
Comment by Vance — Wednesday, March 19, 2008 @ 8:40 am
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/16/vista-sp1-sp1-toilet-paper-hit-japan/
Equal weight, no question about that at all.
Comment by Mitchel Tyrell — Wednesday, March 19, 2008 @ 11:19 pm
Mitchel, I’ll try not to hold your comment under the context that you have an @live.com email address. So you think if it was Leopard toilet paper I wouldn’t have covered it or something?
Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 7:57 am
“So you think if it was Leopard toilet paper I wouldn’t have covered it or something?”
If anything I’m shocked that you didn’t title this story as ‘OMG Microsoft copies Apple again’
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/10/mac-se-gutted-converted-into-toilet-paper-dispenser/
So here is my question on even handedness, total up the number of stories written on engadget per gadget company. Who comes out on top?
(And to be fair, engadget is my favorite out of the competition)
Comment by Mitchel Tyrell — Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Sure, but how many other companies make their own consumer laptop / desktop lines, OS, desktop software suite, media players, cellphones, online media stores, and a worldwide retail chain? Sony does do a lot of those things, but it’s not quite close enough (and for the record, we cover the hell out of Sony). For better or worse, there is simply more news surrounding Apple than any other company in the gadget-sphere. You could argue we are too dilligent about covering it all, sure, but that’s our job — wall-to-wall gadget news coverage — and I think we do it well enough. To meet your point, though, I would like to be able to offer our readers RSS feeds free of certain companies (like Apple or MSFT), but until that day you’ve got Yahoo Pipes. http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/
Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
Well written response, I retrack my claws. I’d appreciate a x-brand free version of the feed, you have already done well with the non-covension news versions of your feeds. Just please make sure that snark doesn’t reach Gizmodo-levels.
Comment by Mitchel Tyrell — Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 10:35 pm
Noted!
Comment by Ryan Block — Thursday, March 20, 2008 @ 10:51 pm