More iCrap
Look at the Enquirer's iPhone blog. I'm sure the headline on the final post of the day, "Drama winding down ... ," wasn't meant to be in any way ironic. They send two reporters onto the streets to report from the front lines, they have their No. 2 editor in the newsroom posting on the blog all day, they even post photos from the lines, and in the end -- THERE'S NOT A SINGLE PHOTO OF SOMEONE HOLDING AN IPHONE!! How stupid is that? They waste the day of three employees and never once show a picture of somebody who finally got their hands on a phone.
The extent of the Enquirer's naivete and stupidity in incomprehensible. I'll allow that the iPhone might be a story. But the Enquirer doesn't comprehend why it's a story. Every bit of their reporting was second- and third-hand. Reporting on technology is a hands-on thing. Not one of the five Enquirer reporters who worked on this story (Lauren Bishop and Mike Boyer blogging today, Alex Coolidge, James McNair, and Cliff Peale on his blog) this week ever got their hands on the device. The reporter has to see and touch the device to tell us how it works, and to tell us why it's important. The Enquirer is taking the only approach it seems to know how to report a story -- it only reports on what people say about something, and not anything seen first hand. Not even the reviews it published on the front page Thursday were its own. Apple fanatics are already getting their iPhone news off the web, and because the Enquirer doesn't cover technology seriously, no one looks to it for any expert coverage.
The cell phone has already become ubiquitous and changed how we live. That revolution has already happened. The impact of the iPhone is that it's going to change the way we use cell phones, maybe. The Enquirer has already missed reporting the revolution, but is trying to make up for it by over-covering the iPhone. The only thing this coverage sheds light on is the Enquirer's ineptitude and lack of sophistication about technology.
The extent of the Enquirer's naivete and stupidity in incomprehensible. I'll allow that the iPhone might be a story. But the Enquirer doesn't comprehend why it's a story. Every bit of their reporting was second- and third-hand. Reporting on technology is a hands-on thing. Not one of the five Enquirer reporters who worked on this story (Lauren Bishop and Mike Boyer blogging today, Alex Coolidge, James McNair, and Cliff Peale on his blog) this week ever got their hands on the device. The reporter has to see and touch the device to tell us how it works, and to tell us why it's important. The Enquirer is taking the only approach it seems to know how to report a story -- it only reports on what people say about something, and not anything seen first hand. Not even the reviews it published on the front page Thursday were its own. Apple fanatics are already getting their iPhone news off the web, and because the Enquirer doesn't cover technology seriously, no one looks to it for any expert coverage.
The cell phone has already become ubiquitous and changed how we live. That revolution has already happened. The impact of the iPhone is that it's going to change the way we use cell phones, maybe. The Enquirer has already missed reporting the revolution, but is trying to make up for it by over-covering the iPhone. The only thing this coverage sheds light on is the Enquirer's ineptitude and lack of sophistication about technology.
posted by Newsache at 8:33 PM
2 Comments:
Newsache ... and why are you surprised by how the Enquirer is covering this (and other stories)? It's the same old thing. As you say, they don't let their reporters do their jobs. All they want their reporters doing is regurgitating what the "man/women/child on the street" says. Hell, I've even seen health stories where the Enquirer asks the man on the street about a disease rather than having a medical professional explain it! What kind of reporting is that? And on the iPhone story, I've read some very good stories in other newspapers on how corporate IT departments were having problems with employees who all wanted to use iPhones for business. These stories started running a week ago. I thought for sure the Enquirer would steal that idea and ask some of the Fortune 500 companies around Cincinnati whether they were dealing this same issue. Nope. Nothing on how the iPhone phenomenon is affecting local corporations. This should not surprise me or you. This is what we've come to expect of the Enquirer.
The Post managed a photo of an iPhone buyer... believe it or not, the first buyer at AT&T in Florence. BRAVO Post!
Post a Comment
<< Home