27 votes

"CEO said a thing!" journalism

11 comments

  1. [2]
    Juan
    Link
    It's a short read on what I've felt is a particularly annoying style of article as of late, specially when there is no follow up unless the person or new feature is disliked (e.g. OpenAI with...

    It's a short read on what I've felt is a particularly annoying style of article as of late, specially when there is no follow up unless the person or new feature is disliked (e.g. OpenAI with ads). The easy way out is to just "announce" (say it off hand once) and then just never release it. Since almost every example I've seen applies to the tech industry I've put it here, if it need to be moved let me know :).

    9 votes
    1. glesica
      Link Parent
      I recall there being a lot of discussion about this during the 2008 financial crisis because CNBC (and others) were so desperate to get access to finance executives (for interviews and such to...

      I recall there being a lot of discussion about this during the 2008 financial crisis because CNBC (and others) were so desperate to get access to finance executives (for interviews and such to drive ratings) that the media basically just aired whatever these people said, uncritically.

      1 vote
  2. [3]
    skybrian
    Link
    I'm also annoyed with these kind of articles. Unfortunately, these are powerful people and whatever they're claiming often matters, so it sometimes counts as news. But it's not news I want to read...

    I'm also annoyed with these kind of articles. Unfortunately, these are powerful people and whatever they're claiming often matters, so it sometimes counts as news. But it's not news I want to read unless the journalist does additional work.

    6 votes
    1. papasquat
      Link Parent
      It's not really news. It's advertising. "CEO said a thing" is not something that actually happened, or will actually happen. It's press, released by the company. No different than the article...

      It's not really news. It's advertising. "CEO said a thing" is not something that actually happened, or will actually happen. It's press, released by the company. No different than the article "Breaking: Coca-Cola is refreshing on a hot day, according to The Coca-Cola Company".

      If you want to make it news, you need to do some actual analysis of what the statement likely means.

      4 votes
    2. Tlon_Uqbar
      Link Parent
      Honestly, I don't feel like it counts as news at all unless there is additional context, follow up, or other perspectives in addition to the CEO's statement. I'd count any public statement by a...

      Honestly, I don't feel like it counts as news at all unless there is additional context, follow up, or other perspectives in addition to the CEO's statement. I'd count any public statement by a CEO as marketing or PR, making this type of article really no different than copy-pasting a press release (which unfortunately also happens all the time).

      3 votes
  3. [5]
    Eric_the_Cerise
    Link
    Pretty much holds true for 95% of "Trump says..." headlines, too.

    Pretty much holds true for 95% of "Trump says..." headlines, too.

    6 votes
    1. [3]
      d32
      Link Parent
      Those especially bother me. The demented fascist clown (those are honest observations, not insults) says everything and nothing in each 200 word sentence he babbles, why would you cite him?

      Those especially bother me. The demented fascist clown (those are honest observations, not insults) says everything and nothing in each 200 word sentence he babbles, why would you cite him?

      7 votes
      1. [2]
        hobbes64
        Link Parent
        Not only that, but the media constantly “sanewashes” his statements to make them seem less stupid and crazy. A recent example of this was the deployment of ICE to airports to supplement TSA. There...

        Not only that, but the media constantly “sanewashes” his statements to make them seem less stupid and crazy. A recent example of this was the deployment of ICE to airports to supplement TSA. There were several articles, including by CNN, filling in how this could possibly work without much information from the government. Clearly the media did more work spinning this ridiculous decision than Trump did.

        They should never give explanations for his bad decisions and they should quote his rambling nonsensical answers as given instead of translating them to coherent English.

        9 votes
        1. d32
          Link Parent
          This is spot on. They pretend he said something... well not meaningful, but at least grammatically comprehensible, thus lying to the readers.

          translating them to coherent English

          This is spot on. They pretend he said something... well not meaningful, but at least grammatically comprehensible, thus lying to the readers.

          2 votes
    2. indirection
      Link Parent
      Even worse: “mayor of [town in the middle of nowhere] [who belongs to the opposite political party] says something dumb”. There are over 19,000 mayors in the US, some are bound to be idiots. Same...

      Even worse: “mayor of [town in the middle of nowhere] [who belongs to the opposite political party] says something dumb”. There are over 19,000 mayors in the US, some are bound to be idiots. Same with spokesperson, high school principle, etc. At least Trump accurately represents his party.

      3 votes
  4. stu2b50
    Link
    Honestly I hate the “Company says they eat babies” headlines more, since 99% of the time the companies didn’t say anything (mega corps don’t tend to be the talkative type!) and are just clickbait...

    Honestly I hate the “Company says they eat babies” headlines more, since 99% of the time the companies didn’t say anything (mega corps don’t tend to be the talkative type!) and are just clickbait bordering on journalistic malpractice.

    Although part of that is that Reddit and etc fall for the clickbait every single time, so they’re very over represented

    5 votes