• home
• bookstore
• tips
• software
• archives

Archives: Journalism

A fine job of debunking bogus quotes

Kevin Maney of USA Today deserves a medal for this article, which looks at a half-dozen widely circulated quotes from titans of the tech industry going back more than a century and finds that only one of them is actually legitimate: Among the quotes is this widely circulated comment attributed...

Orlowski's a liar, too

I still have no intention of linking to Andrew Orlowski. But Thomas Hawk did, and he quotes from the latest installment in Andrew's public feud with Robert Scoble. Orlowski prints a damaging e-mail supposedly sent by Scoble, and he goes on to slur Scoble's reputation and suggest that Microsoft should muzzle him. Trouble is, the text...

Hackery, continued

Charles Arthur says he tried to post a comment here in defense of The Register's Andrew Orlowski and his trash-talking about IE7 and Robert Scoble and "got denied for having 'questionable content' by the comments filter on Ed Bott’s blog." Sorry, Charles. I just checked, and apparently in the process of cleaning...

Andrew Orlowski is a hack

Robert Scoble points to yet another grossly inaccurate story from the keyboard of The Register's Andrew Orlowski (no, I won't link to it - go to Scoble's site and follow the link if you must). Orlowski "reported" that the IE7 beta out yesterday doesn't work with the Google or Yahoo toolbars. Actually, the...

What I learned in J-school

Michael Gartenberg is right: If you want to play journalist, you have to get the story right. Being first doesn't earn you a trophy if you blow the story. In fact, if you're first and wrong, you can damage innocent lives. Just ask this guy. And if your conscience doesn't bother you,...

Boing Boing gets a big shovel, spreads BS

Follow the bouncing distortion: It starts on CNET, with a story that quotes anonymous "sources" saying Microsoft is "in discussions to buy controversial adware maker Claria." (The New York Times runs a similar story later the same day, with a few more details, including a quote from its unnamed source...

Today's clinic in bad journalism

Here's why I don't trust or recommend BetaNews. Nate Mook of BetaNews writes an outrageously bad lede to a story on the Google toolbar this morning: In a marketing tactic used primarily by spyware and adware companies, Google has begun bundling its Google Toolbar and Desktop Search software with the popular WinZip archive utility....

Earth to PC World

Spotted in my news reader within seconds of one another: First, this Opera press release, by way of Neowin: Opera once again wins PC World's World Class Award for best Web browser Opera Software today announced that for the second year running it has received PC World's World Class 2005...

Techno-tabloid journalism

Greg Saunders at This Modern World passes along a jaw-dropping quote from former New York Times public editor Daniel Okrent, which, in Greg's words, "pretty much says all you need to know about modern newsrooms": I also believe that columnists are entitled by their mandate to engage in the unfair...