Re:Facebook showed me my data is everywhere and I have absol...
by reaperducer on Thursday April 11, 2019 @01:01PM
(#19636658)
But they do talk to IT people when they write stories about IT things, don't they?
Generally, no. They talk to people on the outside.
Unless it's a secret move
It's always amusing to me the conspiracy theories people have about journalism. These are people who boost their egos, their living, their careers by telling people things. The changes of hundreds of thousands of journalists keeping a secret about anything are pretty close to zero.
fear of being sacked (by the ads people, presumably)
This only very rarely happens (It happened to me once, and then the company contested by unemployment claim!), but only at very small organizations. Like where the entire newsroom is fewer than ten people.
And the journalists in turn aren't allowed to look at their own websites when researching a story?
> A reporter is not involved in how a web site is built, or what goes on behind the scenes.
But they do talk to IT people when they write stories about IT things, don't they?
I'm all with you that it doesn't change the story's correctness one bit, but it does question the self-awareness of journalists as part of companies. Unless it's a secret move to get people to focus on the stuff their organisation does which they can't publicly comment on for fear of being sacked (by the ads people, presumably), that would be quite different.
edit: I'd love to reply, but somebody in their limitless wisdom has decided to time me out for whatever reason.