MG Siegler, on his “Parislemon” blog:
Most of what is written about the tech world — both in blog form and old school media form — is bullshit. I won’t try to put some arbitrary label on it like 80%, but it’s a lot. There’s more bullshit than there is 100% pure, legitimate information.
The problem is systemic. Print circulation is dying and pageviews are all that matter in keeping advertisers happy. This means, whether writers like it or not, there’s an underlying drive for both sensationalism and more — more — more.
Siegler’s comments are very, very cynical, but there’s more than a grain of truth to it. The tech news business has changed dramatically over the course of the past decade, as more and more emphasis has been put on page views.
I don’t share his harsh appraisal that the best are either going to fall away or “break towards the bullshit and thrive.” But an educated consumer is always going to come out on top, and that requires more critical thinking skills on the average news reader’s part.
The thing is, Siegler I don’t consider to be part of the better bloggers or journalists on the web. The content he produces isn’t particularly bad, but his articles often show a huge amount of new media douchebaggyness, reducing their worth significantly.
As such, it is kind of ironic that he would write this.
But, I agree with the general premise, most stuff on the web is crap, especially in tech reporting which is why for quite some time now, the number of blogs I follow hasn’t grown as fast as it has done in the past.
The problem isn’t so much that people write crappy articles. It’s that these crappy articles are linked to by EVERYONE. I think it’s fine to call people out, but the monetary reward needs to stop. Especially to the ones that are just trolling, and not really just out of the tech loop. (Enderle, Thurrot, Lyons, etc.)
Maybe bloggers can pull an offensive quote or two from the article, correct the stupidity, and somehow let people know where to find the article if they really want to, but not link directly to it? I’m all for giving credit where it’s due, but rewarding this crap with a massive linkbacks does nothing but promote it.
I agree with you. I don’t consider Siegler as someone who is above what he posted about. He is not a Mossberg who is above all the petty infighting that exists between Apple, Google and others which have no relevance in a consumer’s life. He just reviews the product.
One of the best stories I’ve read in years comes from Brian Lam, who has taken a really positive turn since leaving Gizmodo, and given me something to think about:
Happiness Takes (A Little) Magic:
http://thewirecutter.com/2012/01/happiness-takes-a-little-magic/
“Many are written without the writer even having to think.”
Siegler’s obviously very familiar with the Mac side of the web…
MG is right. Only maybe 1% of tech writers generate original content. And non-tech writers writing about tech just generate incomprehensible drivel that makes no sense and offers no insights.
For many, the whole blogging thing was basically a way to pretend it is OK to copy other people’s work. Now it has eaten itself. Every blog has basically the same content. And there is a lot of obvious astroturfing PR. Antennagate for example was just an Apple hit piece. Same with the recent labor articles that imply Apple invented the outsourced supply chain and is the only one who uses it, when in truth they were the last to go to China, and they has the strictest standards.