Jason Gilbert, a tech reporter for Yahoo, writes about what it was like to cover the company’s announcement that it was rolling out an updated version of Flickr and its acquisition of Tumblr.
Gilbert writes, “If you are looking for an even-handed, equanimous, journalistic-ten-commandments version of this story, then you are on the wrong website. I have no intention of even attempting to cover the latest raft of announcements from Yahoo — the enterprise whose very existence ensures that my next meal will not be a Hot Pocket mooched off an old college roommate — with anything approaching impartiality.
“It’s a fool’s errand to cover a company you have a financial interest in, and owning the stocks of companies you cover is verboten for any journalist with even a Wheaties shred of ethics.
“But since I was invited by Yahoo’s benevolent PR wing to write about the event as a pugnacious reporter — as opposed to, presumably, being invited to gawk at the stage like a yokel, to gulp down a few gratis Amstels, and to applaud at the appropriate moments — I thought I’d give some general impressions of the the evening. As a technology journalist who has attended dozens of these pageants, these trumped-up live action press releases, I feel like I have something to offer, through purple-tinted lenses or not.”
Read more here.
