Disclosing Interests

That Macromedia is considered fair game, and somehow the pros are not, shows you how screwed up the system is. We should certainly be circumspect of vendors who turn into journalists, but we should be more circumspect of reporters who accept the conflicts of their employers without disclosing them. The vendor who puts on the journalism hat has a clearly disclosed interest. The reporter who doesn't dare to report on his employer, when it's material, and fails to disclose this, is much less of a journalist, imho, than the amateur with the clearly disclosed interest.

. . . journalists, pros, people whose job it is to be unconflicted, who don't disclose, set up a dangerous situation where the public believes it's being informed, but is not. This is especially important now, because their employers are playing some nasty tricks. Can we trust the pros to shine the light on them when it requires shining?

A preview quote from the upcoming piece. “Many of the professional reporters work for an industry that's getting in position to rape the Internet. How many of them, like Mr X, won't challenge their employers, or even have the guts to put up a clear disclaimer on their site?” [Scripting News