It has not been my experience that trade press journalists consider thankfulness an insult. Rather the opposite.
So, I think you're correct in principle, but off the mark pragmatically.
So, I think you're correct in principle, but off the mark pragmatically.
In the end though, you're right: Giving thanks doesn't hurt anyone too much. But giving thanks for any of the things I mentioned is infinitely better than giving thanks just for the act of covering (or worse yet, the resulting traffic/business).
The author states that there were no PR firms or "crazy pitches," but he was absolutely doing PR. He was absolutely pitching. At some point, PR and sleazy PR got conflated in the tech industry. This is just solid, traditional media relations, a big part of PR.
So, even beyond the obviously terrible positioning of "still relevant" (who wants to be argued for in that way?), this article doesn't do TC any favors.
Credibility is basically all we have. (However small it is.)
We have all read bad spin, and honestly it quickly becomes noise.