Tech journalism is often characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research; publishers hesitate to invest in nuanced reporting without a clear ROI
A huge proportion of tech journalism is characterized by scandals, sensationalism, and shoddy research. Can we fix it?
Related coverage also argued for technology reporting across the newsroom rather than a specialist silo and for moving beyond personality-driven watchdog narratives. The new emphasis is the business case: publishers may not fund that more rigorous approach without demonstrable returns.
First-order effects
Publishers that cannot identify a clear return on nuanced tech reporting are more likely to favor lower-cost, higher-attention formats, leaving reporters with less time for research and context.
Readers and the companies being covered face an information environment more prone to scandal framing and underdeveloped reporting.
Second-order effects
A reporting model dependent on speed and attention can reinforce the source-access problem identified in coverage of Silicon Valley’s routine use of background briefings, since deeply sourced independent work is harder to sustain.
Newsrooms that do invest in broad, solutions-oriented tech coverage must justify its value against cheaper, personality- and controversy-led coverage.
Third-order effects
If publishers continue to treat nuanced tech reporting as economically unjustified, scrutiny of technology may become concentrated in fewer well-resourced outlets while the wider market optimizes for attention.
The pattern points to a durable tension between journalism’s accountability role and the commercial incentives that determine which forms of tech coverage receive sustained investment.
The trend: Tech journalism is increasingly shaped by whether publishers can fund slow, cross-disciplinary accountability reporting in an attention-driven media market.
“There is great technology journalism being done today, but it tends to appear in specialist publications that cater to tech-savvy audiences,” he pop-scienced, while writing a blogpost that wouldn't be seen by Google — https://asteriskmag.com/...
I'm thankful that we have folks like @binarybits that are able to write about tech with a nuanced lens for tech people. I wish there was a larger audience for him and others like him. Turning everything into a scandal / human interest story is exhausting.
Good summation of the areas where tech journalism falls short and could improve, as well as the forces that have led us here. Worth a read for tech journalists or anyone curious why this industry is the way it is https://asteriskmag.com/...
Extremely well written essay from Tim Lee on what drives tech journalism - and some creative and concrete ideas to make tech journalism better. Tim really knows his stuff, having been in the tech press trenches for a long time.
This is an important @asteriskmgzn article by Tim Lee on the sorry state of tech journalism. I encourage you to read it. The TMZ-ization of tech reporting has become a distressing reality. Tabloid-like sensationalism now dominates over deep reporting. Much of the best technical..…
Great analysis. One major issue highlighted is how to balance general audience engagement with deep technical details. LLMs should be transformative in that respect—ask as much as you need to understand the basics without having to bore those familiar.
“There is great technology journalism being done today, but it tends to appear in specialist publications that cater to tech-savvy audiences.” Good read
Great piece about problems in tech journalism-all the decent stuff is paid and expensive, with only @verge doing decent free (ad-supported) tech news. One problem is many tech journalists needed a broader set of sources and need to build better relationships with actual builders.…
Why is tech journalism often so bad? @binarybits writes an impressively candid piece about reporters who don't have in depth knowledge and audiences who don't care: https://asteriskmag.com/...