Broadband Politics - Latest Comments in Business journalism in the bubble

Re: Business journalism in the bubble

Scott Chaffin — Mon, 06 Jan 2003 15:36:53 -0000

I don't know how to write, but WiFi is not going to beat out wired anything. That's just crazy. It's great for ultra-high-density urban sites if there's an antenna on every lamp-post but I'm in Dallas. What do I do?

The only problem I see with what Bennett's saying is there's no critical mass of blog readership, not even approaching it. There's NO way to market blogs that I've found, since it's completely personal. The minute Belo or SJMN starts promoting it, there goes their readership, clicking off their ad-laden sites. Maybe we should all get stickers or something. Or do an Open Source directory or something.*

*Couldn't help myself...sorry, Richard.

Re: Business journalism in the bubble

Richard Bennett — Sat, 04 Jan 2003 15:03:07 -0000

Gillmor serves the Open Source movement, eating away at Intellectual Property rights that are some of the keys to ongoing technical innovation, and Glenn seems not to understand the limits of WiFi, as he proposes it as a broadband technology against DSL and cable.

The problem with tech journalism is that the journalists don't know enough about the tech to cover it intelligently, so it's up to us techies who know how to write to carry the ball.

Re: Business journalism in the bubble

Danny O'Brien — Sat, 04 Jan 2003 11:55:08 -0000

Dan Gillmor and Glenn Fleischmann believe what they're saying as strongly as you believe what you're saying. They're also critical about aspects of the ground that they cover. Most importantly, I don't think either of them are in the pay of shadowy VCs who are using them to manipulate the stock market. In what way would you like them to expound on their beliefs differently?

I don't have a problem with boosterism. There's stuff in the world I really really like, and I'd like to say so. I have a problem with second-hand, ill-thought out boosterism, and I have a real problem with journalists uncritically accepting biassed points of view. I simply don't believe that's the case with either Glenn or Dan. What constituency, exactly, are they the useful idiots for?

Re: Business journalism in the bubble

Richard Bennett — Sat, 04 Jan 2003 10:14:01 -0000

The idea that WiFi is an alternative to DSL and cable Internet is wrong, although WiFi is a real nice deal for what it was intended to do. I like it almost as much as my other favorite invention, twisted-pair Ethernet.

Re: Business journalism in the bubble

Anil Dash — Fri, 03 Jan 2003 20:42:00 -0000

I'm unclear about a point you're trying to make... do you think that the discussion around wi-fi is a bubble created by people trying to promote it? My impression is that it's a very from-the-ground-up phenomenon that's succeeding despite the efforts of (for example) 3G telcos and cable companies to stymie its growth...