Tech leaders should stop glib comments on media and acting like underdogs, and tech media should stop “Red Teaming” tech, overusing anonymity, and passing blame

[with a post like this, i'm not 100% sure i got it right in first publish - i don't draft and i don't circulate for feedback …

Hunter Walk 2020-02-16

Context & Ripple Effects

Hunter Walk's piece lands mid-arc in a running debate over how Silicon Valley and its press treat each other. Columbia Journalism Review had already argued months earlier that tech journalists' new watchdog posture skews toward villains and palace intrigue over solutions, and separately documented how "on background" sourcing became the default for executives dodging accountability.

Walk's intervention is notable because he criticizes both camps at once — founders posturing as underdogs while running powerful companies, reporters defaulting to adversarial "Red Teaming" and anonymous sources. A year later, New York Magazine chronicled how that friction went fully open with [[a:966269|the public battle between a16z partners, Balaji Srinivasan, and the journalists covering them]].

First-order effects

Tech leaders who rely on glib anti-media commentary lose the cover of underdog status — Walk's argument forces them to defend their power rather than perform victimhood.
Tech media outlets face pressure to drop blanket anonymity and "Red Team" framing, since a prominent VC voice is now naming those habits as credibility drains.

Second-order effects

If leaders stop granting background briefings and reporters stop laundering them, the information pipeline between Valley and press thins — pushing coverage toward documents, data, and on-record sources.
The adversarial dynamic hardens into factions: the later a16z-versus-journalists conflict shows executives organizing publicly against coverage rather than quietly correcting it.

Third-order effects

Silicon Valley's communication model shifts from cozy access journalism toward institutionalized distrust — formal PR walls, on-record-only policies, and executives building direct-to-audience channels.
For readers, the pattern points to a legitimacy contest: whoever controls attribution norms — sources or outlets — effectively sets what counts as accountable tech reporting.

The trend: Tech-media relations are moving from symbiotic access to open adversarialism, with each side's bad habits — executive spin, anonymous sourcing — becoming the other side's justification.

Discussion

@balajis Balaji S. Srinivasan on x
Incredible. Last week I called out a journalist who I thought was writing a piece that would be a disservice to public health. Unfortunately, my concerns proved well-founded. Recode's virus piece ignores WHO & CDC, gets the science wrong...and focuses on handshakes! Thread: 🧵 htt…
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
I will be responding later and in detail to this manipulative effort to cherry-pick and add a convenient series of ... (ellipses) in order to misconstrue parts of the actual article, which you should actually read and is in no way minimizing the threat. https://twitter.com/...
@chr1sa Chris Anderson on x
@hunterwalk “A reporter I know told me that their job is only to Red Team vs tech” Having spent half my career in media, I can confirm that's all too common. Drives me crazy A lot of it is due to Watergate-era “fifth estate” self-importance of press as a necessary counterbalance …
@mathewi Mathew Ingram on x
Good piece from Hunter. I don't want to pick a winner, I just want both teams to have a good time 😂 https://twitter.com/...
@jarroddicker @jarroddicker on x
2 industries in serious transition. Important to remain objective (which @hunterwalk does well here) when it comes to labeling journalism. Many are saying “premium” journalism is on the decline. That's inaccurate & generalizes ALL journalism as the same. Which it's not. /1 https:…
@rashmi Rashmi Sinha on x
This needed to be said by an insider to be taken seriously by tech.glad @hunterwalk went there https://twitter.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
one big trend ive seen over the past three years from a growing number of those in tech is utter contempt for the media no industry is unilaterally good (even media!) but it is interesting to see influential tech types pass this hate down to the next gen of founders
@jason @jason on x
Tech leaders are asking the tech press to take a pause & ask themselves if they could do better covering tech less hysterically & negatively — which is very similar to what the tech press asked tech leaders to do: be better, act more honorably. Both parties can improve. https://t…
@anildash Anil Dash on x
Very good analysis by Hunter of the totally broken interaction between tech & media. I'm probably one of the few who's helped start multiple companies & written for major media, and the intellectual dishonesty of some major tech execs + VCs is the most toxic part of the dynamic. …
@susanthesquark Susan Fowler on x
As someone who has worked in both tech and journalism, this really resonated with me. Good thoughts by @hunterwalk: https://twitter.com/...
@nw_horadam @nw_horadam on x
Missed something here. The *greatest* problem in tech journalism today is the practice of access journalism for scoops and clicks. Too many stories amount to little more than PR/industry boosterism. Few publications consistently apply appropriate criticality in their reporting. h…
@fredbenenson @fredbenenson on x
As someone who work(s/ed) in tech and whose closest friends are almost all current or former journalists, this is extremely on point! https://twitter.com/...
@moorehn Heidi N. Moore on x
A good read by @hunterwalk about the knock-down, drag-out fights in Tech Twitter as VCs and others resist making themselves and their businesses accountable: “You are not as much of an underdog as you think you are.” https://hunterwalk.com/...
@justglew Geoff Lewis on x
Must read thread from @balajis . Simply; we have no choice but to *all* be citizen journalists now. https://twitter.com/...
@webdevmason @webdevmason on x
I actually encourage you all to tune in for what I fully expect to be an extremely instructive episode of “can dish, cannot take.” https://twitter.com/...
@yaserbi Yaser Bishr on x
I strongly suggest all young journalists to read this thread by @balajis. Fact-checking is not only about facts but it is also about context and intent https://twitter.com/...
@felixsalmon Felix Salmon on x
Tech Guy: I am deservedly wealthy because when I look at the world I can see things that other lesser mortals cannot discern Also Tech Guy: An honest journalist looking at the world will see exactly what I see and if she doesn't then she's just trolling for clicks
@zebulgar DELIAN Asparouhov on x
My favorite part of all of this is that Balaji has 15x the likes which means he likely has 50x the views A lot harder to be a bully when your usual targets for the last decade have built up bigger distribution than you https://twitter.com/...
@dennishegstad Dennis Hegstad on x
wow! this is a home run post. well said @hunterwalk https://twitter.com/...
@stevesi Steven Sinofsky on x
What's Wrong With Tech Folks Who Attack The Tech Media. And What's Wrong With Tech Media Today. ⁦@hunterwalk⁩ // something that changed for me as I got older is working to differentiate attack, negative, poorly done, an oversight, etc from malicious. https://hunterwalk.com/...
@cnyari Cristian Nyari on x
This is unsettling but unsurprising given today's confused climate. My takeaway: 1) Difficult to be an authority on multiple subjects 2) Even more difficult to discern where authority comes from and 3) In era of journalistic skepticism, we have to be arbiters of truth and intent.…
@sarthakgh Sar Haribhakti on x
An imp piece by @hunterwalk. A lot of BS on both sides for explaining away their own bad faith behaviors & holding the other side to a higher standard. No industry is too precious to get perpetual immunity to criticism. https://hunterwalk.com/...
@edmundlee Edmund Lee on x
Tech folks (not just one VC dude) are losing it over this balanced, sharply reported story from @shiringhaffary on the industry's reaction to the coronavirus https://www.vox.com/...
@tolles Chris Tolles on x
@antoniogm (Personally, I'd say the disconnect is that journalists believe earnestly that they are the sole representatives of the interests of the public & SV believes that the public's interests are best characterized by what they buy or use and so we are a better & more real g…
@glennf Glenn Fleishman on x
@chr1sa @hunterwalk There's a flip side of all this, too, which is the remarkable lack of critical thinking regarding a lot of tech utopianism. Theranos, for instance, should never have passed a second of scrutiny from a credible press—not a Red Team one, but an informed one.
@hunterwalk @hunterwalk on x
@webdevMason I see a bunch of wealthy people I know decry they believe there's a valuable form of journalism not being practiced. My call to action for them was to fund it. The same section says to also pay for today's media, even if they find it imperfect.
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
I cringed at headline of @hunterwalk blog post but having now read carefully, it's entirely fair. Thx for taking it on. Important point: “So just as you think the media is ‘punching down’ when they critique us, they generally see it as ‘punching up’ and hold power accountable.” h…
@martinsfp Martin Sfp Bryant on x
Finally had the time read the thread alongside the article itself, and for all the talk of ‘bad faith’ in the thread, there's a serious dose of bad faith in his interpretation of the article — or maybe poor reading comprehension. https://twitter.com/...
@brij Brij Singh on x
this post is spot on. I am glad someone with direct connect to VC and tech industry wrote this https://twitter.com/...
@sfiegerman Seth Fiegerman on x
This critique is very reasonable on both sides. I would only push back on the point about tech press leaning heavily on anonymous quotes. Could we limit it? Sure. And most reporters I know always try for on the record. But NDAs have become the norm in tech https://hunterwalk.com/…
@antoniogm @antoniogm on x
The overlap between people who've actually both done tech and journalism is vanishingly small. @chr1 is one of them. https://twitter.com/...
@mdudas Mike Dudas on x
“The media's...reading your blog posts, tweets, podcast transcripts. If every individual, VC firm, startup is using these platforms to build their brand and puff their chests out, please spare me the indignation when reporters want to ask you for comment.” https://hunterwalk.com/…
@ricmac Richard MacManus on x
Enjoyed this post a lot. The best thing about it? It was written on his blog, on his own domain, and wasn't a Twitter thread or a Medium post. Now that's a trend I'd like “Tech Folks” and “Tech Media” alike to adopt. https://twitter.com/...
@ktmboyle Katherine Boyle on x
Twitter has destroyed institutional media. Status is no longer conferred by where one works. This is not new— this is a 30-year trend, thanks to the Fairness Doctrine. This is the beginning of a new media pattern that is reaching every corridor of business, politics and society. …
@antoniogm Antonio Garca Martnez on x
This is going to start happening way more often, where media coverage is publicly refuted brashly and with zero thought to PR niceties (e.g. Fred Smith of FedEx responding to the NYT). https://twitter.com/...
@rmac18 @rmac18 on x
This good https://hunterwalk.com/...
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
agree with a lot of this my only caveat would be that an adversarial relationship btwn tech execs and tech press isn't bad! but there's a difference btwn professionally adversarial relationships and toxic, performative ones https://twitter.com/...
@davidu @davidu on x
Must read thread. 👇🏼 Far more dangerous then the manufactured story about Oracle / Ellison that also came out today (which was orchestrated by a reporter). There are real journalists doing real journalism, and they need our strongest protection, but this isn't it. https://twitter…

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