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Comment by raganwald | Hacker News Reader

Summary:

"Google published its own version of events leading up to releasing Latitude as a browser app instead of a native app. Apple hasn't said anything one way or the other, and we so-called journalists are too lazy to fact check by asking anyone for comment or coming up with an independent source or even talking to the author of the Google piece.

"So we just made up a whole bunch of suppositions and conjectures, bolted on an inflammatory title about Apple screwing Google, and watch the click-through ad revenue roll in."

Is it any wonder that journalism is in a crisis?

p.s. Note that I'm not saying the piece is or isn't accurate. Just that it lacks any evidence that the author did a speck of research, fact-checking, or obtained corroboration for his article. That's what I'm blasting.

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While it's true that the article perhaps goes a bit too far without knowing much, I can't think of many other reasons other than that Apple is screwing Google because it is planning to integrate this feature into its own software. As a web app, Google Latitude is essentially useless.

On the other hand, this and the lack of an official google voice app (which, anyways, probably won't be able to fully integrate into the phone unlike on the Android) is giving Google plenty of opportunity to tout the benefits of competing phones.

You're confusing reporting with commentary. We do both at SAI. Sometimes, commentary and speculation before reporting, as in this case. Sometimes the other way around. But fun rant.

i don't think I'm confusing them, I think I'm stating that I do not care for news organizations ranting instead of reporting.

It's your call as a business, of course, but my perspective as a "consumer" is that every Tom, Dick, and Jane has a blog. They all can and do rant away with abandon and "professional" journalists have very little edge over bloggers in wit. It's true that any one journalist might be consistently funnier than any one blogger, but when sites like reddit, HN, and Digg filter the wheat from the chaff, bloggers in aggregate are at least as funny and usually funnier than "professionals."

What I expect from professionals that I don't expect from bloggers is professionalism. I don't think a "fun rant" is professional in tone or substance. So I don't like it.

JM2C.

Commentary should still be evidence-based and fact-checked.

> fact-checked

Fact-checked for journalists consists of verifying that someone said something, unless what they actually said isn't consistent with the narrative. At that point, journalistic judgement comes into play. Do you attribute the quote that you want to an unknown source or simply go with it?

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