Tech news blogs and their conflicts

Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times takes a look at the increasing conflict that exists among many tech news bloggers in Silicon Valley — they’re writing about companies and investors in which they have a vested interest.

Hiltzik writes, “The basic question is: Should you trust what you read in some of these blogs? In many respects, the answer is no.

“That’s especially so when a tech site goes beyond information gleaned from documented sources and renders subjective judgments about companies without track records or products that haven’t even been released yet. For a struggling start-up, a positive mention from Siegler or on PandoDaily can put it on the map. You think a venture investor with money in a tech blog is above exerting subtle, or unsubtle, pressure on said blog to get a good review? Think again.

“It would be unfair to suggest that tech bloggers aren’t earnest about trying to produce good reporting on Silicon Valley. They haven’t exactly sold their souls by taking money from the people they cover. But what they have sold was worth a lot more than the money they got for it.”

Read more here.