Something needs to change in tech coverage

Alexia Tsotsis of TechCrunch writes about the problems with tech coverage in Silicon Valley.

Tsotsis writes, “It’s dangerous how embedded we are in what we cover. These founders, these VCs, these employees being laid off, are some of our closest friends and sources. Our community is so tight-knit that you could be writing about a CEO getting fired at 2 p.m. and then sitting next to her at a demo day at 4 p.m. Or you have to ask her to speak at your event. Or she is literally your investor.

“These entanglements have made my ilk squeamish about any forms of coverage that might reference the darker side of business, or anything that skirts the ‘personal’ line. Neither ATD nor TechCrunch referred to a documented harassment incident at Stanford when covering Keith Rabois leaving Square for alleged harassment. While it would have totally made sense to do so from a background perspective, neither publication did it.

“We as an ecosystem need a watchdog with enough independence and daring to call it as it is. Right now the closest thing we’ve got to anyone who writes from a relatively outsider perspective is Dan Lyons, and the biggest problem there is that he’s unnecessarily mean-spirited.  This watchdog would need to be a savvy, ballsy type of person, and all of their posts would need to transcend mere gossip.”

Read more here.