On Gizmodo’s douchery and blogging
- January 11th, 2008
- Read 15561 times
- 56 Comments
I didn’t want to weigh in on this because I know all the parties involved, I used to run Gizmodo, and I understand the impetus behind this prank. This is a nasty hack performed by punchy, hungover kids that, as we see, got the CE world’s attention. Will Gizmodo be banned? Nope. Nothing will happen, this tempest will die down, and next year someone will buy some electrical tape.
But what caused this behavior and, more importantly, whither blogging? This is something I’ve been thinking about since I landed in Las Vegas and I want to get it off my chest. Blogging, in the form we are practicing it here — with a small budget, young staff, and irreverent commentary — now has a seat at the table. For the first time in many years it was an actual pleasure to attend CES. The blogger’s lounge, far from being a second-class ghetto, was spacious, well-stocked, and relaxing. My team — all of them had blogger badges except Doug and I but they let us in anyway — were productive and had loads of fun. I may just say I’m a blogger next year just so I can avoid the scrum at the press room where thousands line up to get free lunches and read email (international journos with spotty credentials fighting for crappy lunch boxes, I would say, is more despicable than Gizmodo’s actions but, as we know, journalists love them some free lunch).
But what did it take to get that nice room and some cookies in the Blounge? It took years of hard work by actual bloggers/journalists who, after years of receiving no credentials at all are finally being recognized by the press and, more importantly, the CEA.
The turning point came when Joel Johnson received an audience with Bill Gates in 2005. This was the first time — the absolutely first time — that a blog gained the same access as any other business or industry publication. Joel was lucky to even get a CES pass that year and I believe he went alone. He made a place at the table for us all.
It’s only been three years since that day but it feels like a lifetime. In the interim bloggers have sat down with just about every major player in the industry, we’ve received credentials to all manner of events, and we’ve completed the transition from fringe to mainstream. That I was able to create CG and find a major audience in a little over a year is a testament to this fact as is the corporate buy-out of Weblogs Inc. AKA Engadget and Gizmodo’s startling traffic. Blogs matter.
But, as I mentioned before, blogs have certain defining characteristics. If these characteristics are missing, they are just “newswires.” Some blogs have already lost these characteristics and, more distressingly, many blogs are avoiding them in fear of losing access to press events. These two extremes lead to boring writing and fawning praise, two things a blog should never offer. Ass licking != ass kicking.
Giz still holds the irreverent stance and that’s fine. They pump out content with abandon, flooding feed readers and gaining human readers daily. That’s how Denton’s sites work. There is no surer way of getting traffic — what Joel used to call the low hanging fruit — than having a constantly updated front page. People love novelty. Sometimes you have to make your own novelty and the results often hurt the companies you cover. This is a calculated risk and Giz took it in posting their little prank.
Moving on to young employees: Giz hires kids in the literal sense. Young people, people straight out of college, don’t cost much, work hard, and love the concept if not the practice of creating for a mass audience. If there’s one “best practice” it took from my time at Giz it’s that the “pure, young products of the Internet age” make the best employees and are the worst liabilities. My employees have puked on sales people, been kicked out of press parties for drunkenness, and misrepresented themselves to get free stuff. Brian Lam’s employees messed with a CES presentation and acted like douches and, incidentally, probably puked on sales people as well. Whereas the old media — read “editors” — know that free whiskey is not always a good thing, I’m sure they had the same heady rush of power when their by-lines first hit print and I’m sure they raged against the “PR machine” in their day but many have learned to work around that world and produce good and clean reporting using hard won insider contacts.
And so we see what blogs hath wrought. I doubt Walt Mossberg would run around turning off TVs or getting really drunk. I doubt David Pogue would take pictures of booth babes. But these sophomoric shenanigans — along with rumors, rants, and fanboyism — are sadly the bread and butter of blogging. Otherwise a blog is just a press release regurgitation machine. Will Denton’s kids grow up? Absolutely. I’ve been blessed, so far, with a group of guys who have already had some work experience and understand the honor and privilege of being able to Porky Pig it while the rest of the workaday world reads our scribblings and, more importantly, to be heard in the vast wilderness of CE reporting. While Brian Lam inherited a number of great guys, most bloggers don’t understand the work folks like Joel Johnson and Pete Rojas put into getting a seat at the table and gaining the right to speak. Maybe it’s important they don’t understand this simply because many of these noble savages post pithy and exciting stuff and report on rumors and problems that most companies want to keep under wraps. And then you have a few who turn off a bunch of TVs or puke on a sales guy. While I’m sure editors at Business Week rarely have to sprinkle out sawdust in the break room, they are looking to emulate our style if not our traffic. Unless they’re willing to accept the risk of an asshole move with the promise inspired ones, they’ll be sunk. And unless bloggers are ready to act their age and use their skills, energy, and position to help consumers and not piss of PR folks, they’re also sunk. We’re almost there, but each stunt like this pushes us back a notch.
Thanks for your sharing your thoughts. It’s a fine line between being “raw and edgy” and being “obnoxious and offensive.”
Well said.
Fantastic read, very well said indeed. When I first saw them talking about the prank I couldn’t help but shake my head and say “kids…”
Hopefully they’ll catch some flack from this but due to their traffic/influence, probably not.
They’re at 622 comments and counting. And the vast majority are telling them they’re douchebags. And they are. It could have been a cute Woz-like prank if they did it then fessed up right away. But the Motorola guy had it happen over and over.
And for them to call the blog posting an apology, considering the music they attached to the video, is the ultimate in hypocrisy. I think they need to fire the weenie who did it, and they need to fire the guy at the company that built the gadget that gave it to them and allowed them to wreak mayhem. At least they need to be sued.
Hi, this is Luck from http://gadgetaholic.com. Thank you for the article. It was very well-written and I have to say I understand your point.
However, as I wrote on my post responding to the incident, I don’t understand why it took so long for this kind of prank to happen. And it doesn’t necessary have to be bloggers, it could be anyone of the hundred thousand attendees to pull a stunt like that. It would be impossible to track down the source.
I DO NOT agree with what the Gizmodo guys did. However, I think CES people just have to be smarter about this and prevent this from happening again.
Pranks happen and they will happen again in some other ways.
It hasn’t happened yet because the attendees of the CES show are generally professional / mature types. This is not a gaming convention. Yet, that is exactly how Gizmodo treated it. This is a venue that gives small companies once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to showcase a product they have invested their entire life and expenses in. And also a venue for large companies, like Motorola, to introduce new products that may grab the interest of distributers. The way human nature works, attendees will not remember the products these people were presenting; but, rather that they presumably were to incompetent to do a simple presentation - not knowing the reality was a bunch of childish immature “journalists” pulling a ‘fun prank’.
Well said. Turning the tv off on the guy playing Guitar Hero, funny, screwing up an important presentation for Motorola……totally weak. I work as a PR professional, but I am also a blogger and I can tell you Giz just shat in their own bed. This is a perfect example of bloggers getting too full of themselves and thinking they can do whatever they want. It is always sad when the lame actions of a few make the whole look like a bunch of idiots.
When I first read the post at Giz, my first thought was the kiddies with laser pointers in movies. I have since unsubscribed from the feed, I don’t need content written by kiddies.
John, this a very well written article that clearly shows how far blogging has come. I hope that Giz is the only entity that gets reprimanded.
I appreciate the sincerity of what was written about blogs and journalists. I’ve been both in my years in the business and even as a regular editor I kept my irreverant personality at trade shows. Yes I have taken pictures of booth babes, but I’ve also posed with them. I like to keep things light and funny when talking to companies.
But bloggers should still try to be a bit more mature. Anyone can buy a TV B Gone and torture random people. But is that really what a professional blogger should be doing? At CES?
Next time they should leave the TV B Gone for their own office. Or someone should shut down Gizmodos servers as a prank and see how funny it is.
Well said Biggs!
“Well said”…? He just told you that you’ve single-handedly undone a good deal of work on the part of many people with real integrity, work which resulted in your being handed a press pass to CES, which you then went right out and abused.
Amazing, Richard. You’re a real piece of work.
Your speaking out about sophomoric rants and fanboyism would be more convincing if CrunchGear didn’t have Vince Veneziani on staff.
No hatin’ on “double v” else you might need a WAAAAAAAHHHMBULANCE!!!
Actaully, Vince is no longer with CG, due to a very similar string of incidents. That being said, I like Vince. Hi VV!
thanks, matt i kinda figured since i haven’t seen anything since nov 2. is he still posting somewhere? i like him too…but not like that…and not like, “like-like” either. vv’s a cool dude…
I love Vince, but puking on PR reps and shutting off TVs are hardly “similar”. For Biggs to all but directly accuse us of the same thing is offensive, hacky, sensationalist, and a desperate ploy for attention. I realize talking about Giz is an easy traffic grab these days, but how about you work on gear reporting more instead of half-baked analysis and tabloid stories. That’s how we’ve built our traffic, along with important interviews, major scoops, and great content. You’re just the jealous kid in the back of the class snickering to feel better about yourself.
I agree too. This stunt was just a cheap shot at someone else’s expense to generate some traffic or for their own selfish and inconsiderate sense of humor.
Ballache if you wanted to be legitimate, you should’ve worked in real media.
Also, look at the ad you’re displaying http://doriantaylor.com/lul-crunchgear.png
who is ballache?
I’m saying that this post is nothing but ball aching
Irreverence is why they are read. You right… a bit of duck tape and they would have been/will be fine next year. Harmless an fun is all it was. Hey booth folks, don’t take yourself so f$$king seriously.
well put. Seriously, screwing with that guy while he presents makes them huge douche bags.
My thoughts? What Dave Winer said about it… It starts at “Meanwhile…” ps, those dots are really his not mine! i’m so cool dave winer is copying me…
Um. It was funny. They didn’t yell fire in a crowded theater. Think back to before you became a tight-ass…
You guys are comparing yourselves to gizmodo? Give me a break. This blog is run by a bunch of fags.
actually, blah, your dad did apply for a job but we turned him down.
Oh and I forgot to mention, this is also coming from the company whom held a competition for best start ups and then put companies whom weren’t start ups as the winners. But that was only after they made everyone wait for days because they couldn’t run a simple voting poll correctly. Hows that for “Douchery” you dick wads.
using the word “whom” incorrectly is doing nothing for your credibility mr. blah
This is a thoughful piece. The issue is not about the silly prank. Rather it’s about the fact that blogger credibility will go down a notch with many CEA members and certainly with CES rather than going up as it deserves to do.