Rant:

I just peeped the Chronicle/SF Gate article Where old and new media collide by Dan Frost. They are using two of my pictures (with permission) and one of Scott Beale’s — they are mislabeled, giving me my long-awaited moment of Beale photo perfection.

But here’s what’s retarded — snip:

Pagel, who joined Congdon and others on a panel, “Show Me the Money! Making Money From Independent Video Content?,” is the co-founder of Podaddies, a startup looking to help video bloggers put ads on their vcasts, as online video broadcasts are called.

First of all — I also write for the Chron/SF Gate and I WAS ON THAT PANEL as well. But — I sat across from Dan Frost over breakfast *right* after I finished the panel and told him about how it went, while he lamely told me how he’d lamely missed it.

The ultra-retardo part — what the *fuck* is a “vcast”? Why, why, WHY are there no tech writers in mainstream media that are actually *embedded in tech*? Aaaaarggghhhh!!!!!

/rant

Update: Like, omigawd, “vcast” is a term in use *by someone*. Oh DRM, how you vex me everywhere I turn! Also, what’s up with a tech article with like no links? Are we in 1997?

Update: A very reasoned response to my accusations about tech writers and arrested development from a regular (anonymous) reader:

Well, I hope you will concede that *I* am not retarded, though I’ve been
selling tech articles for longer than I want to think about.

Why, why, WHY are
>there no tech writers in mainstream media that are actually *embedded in
>tech*?

well, there’s John Schwartz of the NY Times. . . he usually gets his facts
straight. But the people who are actually “embedded in tech” usually write
for publishers like CMP, IDG, ZDnet, etc. and write for other people who
are serious about technology. (serious as in if our readers don’t get the
info they need, they are likely to stop getting paid)

It’s just a general case of sloppy journalism.

You don’t do it, I don’t do it, but there are entirely too many people in
the MSM who don’t get their facts straight and who don’t have editors and
fact-checkers that will MAKE them get their facts straight. This is
exacerbated in tech fields because the editors generally have no clue about
what the facts are, either.

It’s probably a generational thing. As the last generation with a
significant number of computer-illiterate (unfortunately, mine) in it
retires, tech-related writing in the MSM should improve. I suspect that the
sloppy fact-checking will get worse in general, but at least editors and
journalists will have a better idea of what the facts actually are.

Update: I have received not one, but two emails from Fost (yup, I misspelled his name) that I consider to be intimidating. One begins with,

I just read your blog post about my story. Wow. I wish you would have contacted me directly.

Let’s see if I can understand why you are upset, and I’ll give my explanation. And just to be up front, I am not ccing anyone on this, like my editor or Eve Batey, but I’m thinking about it, because I think these points merit consideration.

The middle is long, and I may just publish the whole thing here, but it ends with the spelling correction and,

Your post leaves me with a real question about how you handled the matter. I only stumbled across your post when I saw the link on Scott Beale’s blog. I’m still in Austin, leaving first thing Saturday morning for home. I am going to get some sleep, and give you a chance to respond, before I decide what if anything I should do next.

Then, a follow-up email that consists solely of a Chronicle internal staff email about Chronicle’s self-criticism policy. In case I didn’t get the memo, which I didn’t, because I’m an indy contractor. (Part of the body of the first email was excerpts from the staff email.) I’m going to SRL now to think about my deep, deep relationship with this prolific man.