Why tech journalism is poop

[the_tyrant]

Ok, so a few weeks back, Oracle and Google had a lawsuit, regarding the use of the Java API and whether it is copyrightable.

It was just your average case, lots of testamony, and technical issues. If you aren't a Java programmer, or an Andriod developer, it didn't really matter for you. If you think "java? what does my coffee have to do with Google or Oracle" or even "Do we still have Oracles? I thought people grew out of the superstition" than obviously, the case doesn't really matter to you.

But there is an intresting thing after the case has been settled. The judge ordered the two companies to disclose a list comprising of the journalists they have paid off. It does not include Google Ad money (lots of sites, subsim included, have Google Ads). But it does include wages and consulting fees paid to journalists and commentators that have once worked for the two companies.

Now what are the results? Oracle, a huge enterprise software company, quickly produced a list.

For example, Oracle has disclosed that it retained a blogger as a consultant. Even though the payment was for consulting work, the payment might have influenced the blogger***8217;s reports on issues in the civil action.

I mean, Oracle is a huge company that caters to the IT departments of other companies. They do enterprise software, and its not like their customers read the reviews in the news (They even explicitly forbid benchmarking their products in the EULA)

However, on the other hand, Google says:

Google suggests that it has paid so many commenters that it will be impossible to list them all. Please simply do your best but the impossible is not required.

That's right guys, Google has paid so many off that they literally cannot list them all.

And that, is why tech journalism is poop. I mean, the press has been telling me for ages that Google has the best maps. But my personal experience tells me that Nokia Maps are better (they even allowed me to download maps for the whole country of Mongolia onto my phone for offline usage!) And thus, I must say, are the reviewers being paid off by Google?

I mean, hype and reviews are important for the tech industry. Its what makes suckers like me line up outside Best Buy at midnight to get the "next big thing". Yet, things like this make be doubt the honesty of such reviews.

Anyways, there is a HUGE Apple VS Samsung case going on right now. I really hope that the judge forces them to disclose a list of journalists that they have paid off too. I just know of a few sites with a clear Apple bias, and some others with a clear Android Bias.

Anyways, here is my source link: http://www.zdnet.com/judge-google-di...al-7000002885/

[Catfish]

And if we want to know why high-tech-military articles are poop ...

Unbiased and neutral media - as easy to find as a unicorn.
I really thought the german "Bild" newspaper would be the worst on earth, but this was until i discovered Fox news.


Very good post, Tyrant - really.