Before we all rush out and embrace this "new" internet jounalism, maybe we should consider the strange case of Apple Computer vs. Podcastready.com. The story has been buzzing around all the tech blogs and podcasts, and was supposedly broken by Wired Magazine's Listening Post Blog. According to the blog, Apple Computer, maker of the Ipod music player, had sent a "cease and desist" letter to a company called Podcastready.com claiming that their use of the term "Podcast Ready" infringed on certain Apple trademarks. The blog made the further assertion that, in effect, Apple Computer was claiming ownership of the word "Podcast".
Of course, sensational news like this spread quickly through both the blogosphere and the more mainstream enthusiast/tech news sites as well; sites that I've always thought spent way more time reading each other's sites than actually breaking real news. Is posting links really journalism, or is that what we now call the "new" journalism?
Anyways, back to this Apple vs. Podcastready.com thing. Like I said the story broke and all the blogs and tech news sites were linking to it, and pretty soon you had people claiming all sorts of crazy things like Apple was going to trademark the word "pod" or that Apple was going to start suing podcasters for infringing their trademark. I'll admit, I've done a little podcasting myself so the news certainly made me sit up and take notice.
Only trouble was, it wasn't true.
It seems in their rush to get this story onto their news sites these so-called tech "journalists" and "editors" decided to skip the time-consuming process of actually verifying their facts. Just read it on the net, say a quick "Omigod!", post the link, and call it "the news".
Well that's all well and good, but when a skeptical Adam Curry (host of the very popular Daily Source Code Podcast) heard the "news" he immediately had his doubts, and stated on his podcast that he wouldn't believe it was true until he read the actual "cease and desist" letter, apparently something that all the reporters and news sites carrying the story never thought to do. The owners of Podcastready.com heard the podcast and they and their lawyer sent Adam Curry a copy of the letter, which he then read and discussed on his Podcast No. 468.
The discussion is rather long and I won't bore you with the details, but the gist of the matter is that the original blogger completely misinterpreted and exaggerated (deliberately perhaps) the contents of the letter. Listen to the podcast for yourself (with the caveat that the Daily Source Code is not exactly family-friendly), read the blog posting, and see what you think. It seems pretty clear to me that the letter does not tell anyone to "cease and desist" anything or prohibit anyone from using the word "podcast", except in the limited sense discussed in the podcast.
So what are we to make of all this? If it is the role of the bloggers to keep the mainstream media accountable, then whose job is it to keep the bloggers accountable? I think there is this self-deceptive view going around among bloggers that he openness of the blogging community keeps each of us accountable, and yet how do you explain a story like this? By the time someone like Adam Curry actually gets around to checking the facts, the story has already been seen and read and linked by billions of people around the world. In fact, many people on the net still talk of this story as if it were true, and the fact that it isn't seems sadly irrelevant.
The worst part of this whole affair, though, is the carelessness shown by the enthusiast news sites who, despite their self-proclaimed professionalism, have shown themselves to be just as lazy and sloppy as the amateurs. I mean, if you read something on my blog and actually believe it then that's your problem. Sheesh, what did you expect. But if you're going to represent yourself as a journalist or your site as a news site, then you have to meet a higher standard. If not, then why bother.
(Please feel free to link this to this blog and pass it around to all your friends)
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