Opinion: Apple, iPhone 4, and the Case against Gizmodo

Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Editorial, Features, Handhelds, Rumors

I’m a pretty crappy journalist.

I do it in my free time, and for the most part, I’m an opinions and hands-on writer. I don’t go monstering around the nation’s capital with a fedora and notepad, and I rarely find myself in a position where I have to probe into anything that matters past an arbitrary release date. I don’t always fact check if I’m not making accusations.

But I know a scummy move when I see one. And Gizmodo’s actions in the iPhone HD prototype debacle have been consistently unethical, unprofessional, and, yes, illegal.

It sucks. Gizmodo’s parent company, Gawker Media, is home to a lot of great blogs and great people – people who seem to have some professional standards. But in the face of such reprehensible journalism, Gizmodo has been inexplicably wearing their tarnished reputation from this saga as if it were some kind of badge of pride. I’m sure they have lawyers going over every step of their story, but how someone in their legal or PR departments could have greenlit this is really beyond my comprehension.

Before I get into the ethical issues of yellow journalism, I think it’s important we establish a fact pattern and what I hold to be the optimal course of actions they could have taken through this whole sordid affair. Join me while I use my rudimentary Google-fu to make my case against the actions of nearly all parties involved.

Click to continue reading Opinion: Apple, iPhone 4, and the Case against Gizmodo

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YouTube Reporters’ Center

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Internet

Want to get into broadcasting? YouTube set up a journalism hub yesterday with tips from those “who know,” like Bob Woodward, Katie Couric and Ariana Huffington. There are video tutorials on how to interview, ethics in journalism and our fave, NYT’s Nicholas Kristof’s instructions on how to report from a “global humanitarian crisis” without getting shot. If you already are in the field, YouTube would like your input on their Reporter Centers’ as well.

Read More | Reporters' Center

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GamerAndy Live! Episode 82: Sex, Lies and Gamertags

Posted by Edie Sellers Categories: Internet, Namco, Politics, Release Dates, Rumors, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Live Marketplace, GamerAndy

It’s a veritable cornucopia of co-hosts, as Andy, Hawkes, Edie and Steve519 (from XBLRadio) initially intend to talk up this week’s gaming news but instead delve deep into what we think is a growing plague on the landscape of podcasting: Corporate Lapdoggery. Yes, this is the episode where we pretty much rip apart Microsoft’s MVP program and pretty much expect we’ll be banned from all Microsoft events from now on.

We didn’t want to do it, but it had to be done. What can I say, kids, after months and months of everyone thinking it, someone had to pipe up and say the emperor has no clothes.

Just be warned, we’ll say a lot of stuff that will make us enemies, but we believe we are firmly on the side of truth, fairness, and the open exchange of information. We believe that you should be able to trust podcasts—any podcast—as much as you trust your local newspaper. Is that too much to ask? And even though we’ll probably take a lot of heat for this, we’d rather be dead right than alive and wrong.

AND!! There’s a contest for Halo2 and Shadowrun for Vista and Stalker for the PC (XP or Vista). Just listen before the first break and the end of the show to find out how to win!

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