TechCrunch’s Yertle the Turtle Tantrum Over News Embargoes
by Kara Swisher
Posted on December 18, 2008 at 11:48 AM PT
[UPDATE below.]
Yesterday, the one-man-band of a tech blogger, Michael Arrington, let loose with yet another outrageously indignant diatribe–this time that he and his TechCrunch site would forthwith break all news embargoes.
Not content with the traffic generated last week by his obviously faked Wrestlemania bout with French entrepreneur Loïc Le Meur about the lazy-lunching Europeans, he moved on to a more promising, but ultimately meaningless, riff on PR people versus journalists, over embargo-breaking.
It’s a sure-fire hit, given tech PR people and bloggers obsessively monitor Techmeme.
(What next for the Geraldo Rivera of investigative tech blogging? A withering prosecution of Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang in the HOV lane on Highway 101 in Sunnyvale without a hybrid? Quelle scandale!)
But BoomTown is not going to do a thumbsucker response to TechCrunch’s news embargo jihad, because, well, who really cares about the details of PR-media interaction anyway (except those who take themselves way too seriously)?
Here’s the essential 411 you’ll need to know: Some embargoes are good and some are bad and some are just–how can I phrase this correctly?–whatever.
And let’s be honest, pretty much everyone has broken an embargo, either by accident or on purpose.
But Arrington’s ire about this seems overwrought, and I suspect the true crankiness is natural product of the end cycle of dopey Web 2.0 “exclusives,” which TechCrunch has gotten in droves.
And all of it is increasingly less important as the economy withers and a lot of the less sustainable start-ups fade away. There are big important stories happening in tech right now about major public companies, the state of innovation and the future of the industry, which require more serious journalism.
So I think we can all imagine a day very soon when the Web 2.0 echo chamber dissipates–as it inevitably did in Web 1.0–and no one goes nuts if Start-up X adds a new embeddable widget, Start-up Y changes its homepage design or Start-up Z contemplates a new social-networking site for dogs to gain a new revenue stream.
And, in a less frothy landscape, the more important exclusives now go out to many. For example, consider yesterday’s story on LinkedIn’s changing of the guard, which went out to a dozen news outlets in advance rather than to just one like TechCrunch alone.
Of course, the true exclusives that a tech site gets through enterprise reporting take hard work and no handouts, which TechCrunch does legitimately get. Yesterday, in fact, TechCrunch’s Robin Wauters got a few really good ones about product units Yahoo is cutting.
But in this bruising contest, TechCrunch clearly does not dominate, based on its size, as it did with the easier press release exclusives. In the new environment, in fact, tiny little voices that are accurate and insightful have just as much impact.
So, my takeaway from Arrington’s rant could be boiled down to three words: “GIVE ME EXCLUSIVES!”
That verbal stamping of foot brought to my mind the loud declarations of Dr. Seuss’s “Yertle the Turtle.”
In the story, Yertle wants to be higher than anyone, so he forces the other turtles to pile up under him in an ever-unwieldy tower to rule over everyone and everything.
It ends badly, of course, when Yertle asks for too much:
But, as Yertle, the Turtle King, lifted his hand
And started to order and give the command,
That plain little turtle below in the stack,
That plain little turtle whose name was just Mack,
Decided he’d taken enough. And he had.
And that plain little lad got a bit mad.
And that plain little Mack did a plain little thing.
He burped!And his burp shook the throne of the king!
And Yertle the Turtle, the king of the trees,
The king of the air and the birds and the bees,
The king of a house and a cow and a mule…
Well, that was the end of the Turtle King’s rule!
For Yertle, the King of all Sala-ma-Sond,
Fell off his high throne and fell Plunk! in the pond!
And today the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And the turtles, of course…all the turtles are free
As turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.”
We’re all in the mud now, TechCrunch. But come on in–the water’s just as fine.
[UPDATE: Now Arrington is going for the full cup full of crazy by attacking an admittedly obnoxious PR lady, getting all hot and bothered by spam she sends with the kind of indignation I like to reserve for the vile terrorists in Mumbai or wife beaters. Oh, dear. Then again, the rest of us can concentrate on real stories, while he busies himself huffing and puffing away on his anti-PR sousaphone.]
Comments
Michael A is the 50 cent of the tech world. He understands PR enough to know that if he goes off and says something crazy, lots of people will listen (and read).
How many tech blogs have written about his post? Just about every one that I frequent.
And they all link back to his blog, driving more and more readers. He’s angry, but he’s as smart a PR guy as you’ll find.
Posted by Derek Andersen at December 18th, 2008 at 12:41 pmFirst, ‘Yes, Virginia..’ then Yertle the Turtle. Kids getting to you?
Posted by Edward Barrera at December 18th, 2008 at 1:06 pmvery true Kara, right on the spot. Feels like Arrington is on a mission for attention.
Posted by Bas van den Beld at December 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pmD:
A dubious distinction.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 18th, 2008 at 5:28 pmE:
Oh, you have no idea!
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pmB:
You think?
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 18th, 2008 at 5:30 pmWhat the hell? I wonder WHERE you got this idea? Could it be from my own blog post just a few days ago which was posted on FriendFeed? http://tinyurl.com/3jq5oz
Posted by Dawn Douglass at December 18th, 2008 at 7:14 pmD:
Not from you.
What a ridiculous assertion.
I never saw your piece and have never seen your blog either and Yertle the Turtle is my kid’s favorite book. Sorry, but you don’t get dibs on “Green Eggs and Ham” either or, god forbid, “Hop on Pop.”
And I don’t read FriendFeed much at all and not this week until I saw this comment.
Good lord.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 18th, 2008 at 7:31 pmRidiculous? How long has this been your daughter’s favorite book? How long has Michael Arrington been an ego maniac? And how many times has he pulled things like this? But you finally put the two together three days after I did. Okay, it’s all just a coincidence.
Of course, I don’t have a copyright on Yertel the Turtle. I just don’t “professionals” helping themselves to bloggers’ ideas. But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Merry Christmas.
Posted by Dawn Douglass at December 18th, 2008 at 8:12 pmD:
Let me walk you through all your new specious remarks:
Yes, ridiculous.
I have two sons and no daughters and my oldest has loved it since he was three (he is almost seven). I have loved it for much longer than that as I am old.
I have no idea how long, but I have regularly written pieces about him and TechCrunch and rants like this (you might have checked).
I have never read your blog until these posts. In fact and no offense, but I have never heard of you until now.
In any case, your blog post was about something entirely different than Arrington’s news embargo issues. You wrote in BOLD: “I believe Yertle-the-Turtle-type social networking, and the social networks themselves that rely on it, will start falling from grace in 2009.”
PLUS: Your reference to Arrington was about using video for free, which had nothing to do with what I wrote. There are ZERO similarities, save for the turtle usage.
It was pure coincidence that we both used Yertle. How in the world can I track all uses of the book? Lots of people have read this book and use the Yertle comparison for all sorts of stuff.
Look, here’s one I just found using Yertle as a metaphor for Alabama’s Tax Code from November 26th! Did you “borrow” that? That sounds about as ridiculous as what you are saying about me. Like I said: Good Lord.
I am also a blogger (wait, do you get that moniker exclusively too?).
I “borrowed” nothing from you and for you to say so is just not true.
And thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt, but I just don’t need it. In any case, this is rank silliness and I think it is–at least for me–time to stop.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 18th, 2008 at 9:02 pmNo offense taken, Kara. I never heard of you either. I just save Dave Winer’s post on FF about this article.
Posted by Dawn Douglass at December 18th, 2008 at 9:24 pmD:
I did not see your piece at all, which is a very good piece, btw, now that I read it, and a very interesting blog.
I am really sorry if you thought so, but it is just a coincidence that we both used a very fine book.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 18th, 2008 at 9:38 pmKara, I believe you. I apologize for overreacting.
Thanks for the nice comments. My blog is just three weeks old, but I’m enjoying doing it.
As someone of Winer’s post said, great minds just think alike. Ha!
Posted by Dawn Douglass at December 18th, 2008 at 9:49 pmMy original intent was to propose marriage based on this post (then I remembered I’m already married with a couple kids). Then I got caught reading the back and forth b/t you and Dawn and now I’m confused…
Regardless, loved your response to Arrington’s rant, so thanks.
Posted by Jesse Ciccone at December 19th, 2008 at 10:43 amJ:
You are so uncommitted to me! I was just pointing out I did not steal her idea. You should have risen to my defense, if marriage was your intention.
Sniff….;)
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 19th, 2008 at 10:57 amJ:
Also, I am married too.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 19th, 2008 at 10:57 amIt was how quickly it turned from vitriol to mutual admiration that confused me. Don’t get me wrong, I was hoping you kids would work it out!
Posted by Jesse Ciccone at December 19th, 2008 at 11:07 amJ:
I always go for peace after a nice slapping session.
But I definitely don’t like being accused of lifting anything.
Posted by Kara Swisher at December 20th, 2008 at 12:51 amIt was delightful to see Bill and Steve sharing a stage and reminiscing about their stuff, but I was surprised that Bill (gadgets) and Steve (widgets) didn’t settle the debate about the original inventor of the widget.
One can never have too many widgets. Somebody codes something you never even dreamed of wanting – suddenly everybody
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