I’ve been loving the whole Gizmodo blow up at the Consumer Electronics Show this year.<\/p>\n

Gizmodo bloggers rile against the hype machine that is CES<\/a>. They hit the nail on the head: they resist the cheese and fluff of poorly rolled out product and demand more substance in a funny, well written article. Well done!<\/p>\n

In what might have negated their credibility, Gizmodo bloggers take TV-B Gones<\/a> into the CES and wreak havoc with displays\/demonstrations. Sophomoric fun, I’ve done it myself. Gizmodo owns up to it by posting a video confession of it on their site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fury ensues. Many tech writers complain that “bloggers” ruin the integrity of journalism.<\/a> Many critics of Giz and Gawker come trolling out of the woodwork to lay down words like “ethics” and “journalism” and “there goes our martini lunches” etc.<\/p>\n

CES responds by banning Giz for life.<\/a> (note the comments headers from CNet readers. Not fans of Giz, for sure!)<\/p>\n

Giz responds with a scathing article about “integrity” and “civil disobedience”<\/a> and call out their critics for kowtowing to big corporations. They remind everyone that a journalist’s job is to also report crap as it is to report on a futurama-style product.<\/p>\n

Many of our harshest critics have done far worse than clicking off a few TVs. I’m talking about ethical lapses such as accepting paid junkets to Japan by Nikon, or free trips to Korea by Samsung. Turning a blind eye to Apple’s mistakes when they didn’t make an iPhone SDK and sought to lock down the handset. Stock prices torn downward by publishing incorrect leaked info. Writing about companies that also pay you for advertorial podcast work. All of these examples are offenses from the last year. And I consider those offenses far worse than our prank, because it ultimately it puts the perpetrators on the wrong team.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I agree with this wholeheartedly. But the whole article sounds like another cry for attention. We made funny. We got noticed (in a bad way) and now we’re spoiling the fun for everyone. <\/p>\n

I love Giz. I love their articles and how they bring a fun geeky spin to new products and news articles, but in this case, I think they’re trying to act adult despite the fact that they post titles like “Extreme Tank Wheelchair Gets Upgraded: Rascal Owners…Be Very Afraid” or “Polar Cities for Day After Tomorrow Survivors Will Save Us All From Horrible Deaths” or “62-in-1 Card Reader \/ Hub: The Only Thing it Can’t Do is Pleasure You (Or Can It?)”. <\/p>\n

Do I want them to start acting like an adult? No. I like what they’re doing. Do I want them to STFU and move on? Yes. <\/p>\n

Update: Giz just released this statement that they are ensuring that no A\/V staff were harmed (ie: fired, hit or put out in the yard) in the execution of their prank<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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