Muses Extra: If you’re only killing time, it’ll kill you right back
By Porruka (porruka@macedition.com), July 11, 2002
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The Mac Web needs to get over itself
Having to generate original content regularly is not easy. No one ever claimed it would be. Running a business is not easy. No one ever (correctly) claims it will be. Being a journalist (or even just someone who approximates one) is not easy. Anyone who claims otherwise is mistaken or lying. Being “commercial news” is certainly not easy, as the requirements (despite which definition you use) are many, the rewards sometimes hidden beneath the ruckus, and, if you’ve done your job right, you’ve pissed off everyone you’ve ever known at one point or another, sometimes all at once.
All this finally brings me to the revelation I had while pondering a reaction to the “Apple is evil and trying to squash us because we print rumors” thing. The real answer? Apple probably is trying to continue to manipulate the media through IDG, but I doubt we’ll ever be able to prove it. In the meantime, we need to get over ourselves and decide what it is we want to be when we grow up.
Should every Mac site get passes to Macworld Expo (or any other)? No, of course not. That is the issue that seems to be getting some people upset. I think in some cases it’s because of a misplaced sense of importance. I would love to think that there is as vibrant a Mac news community as might be represented even by a fraction of the list on the MacSurfer page, but in-between the admitted hobbyists and the sites that really do qualify (or do their best in attempting, anyway) as commercial news, there’s a raft of hobbyists who either don’t know they are or won’t admit to it. As the title of this piece says, “If you’re only killing time, it’ll kill you right back” (with thanks to Meat Loaf for the paraphrased lyric). If it’s a hobby, admit it. If you want it to be more, quit killing time and get on with the process of improvement.
Perhaps for the wrong reasons or using the wrong method, the right results might come out of this. There are several pseudo-real sites that could probably be much better than they are if the owners took the issue seriously. “But this isn’t my day job” many might say, or “I still have to eat,” might come the reply, to which I do not disagree, but would add, “then you’re not a commercial site”.
There’s no shame in admitting that something is a hobby, even an all-consuming hobby for some. Admitting it might be the first step to having it become something greater, even. But if you’re simply going to declare yourself “commercial news” without doing the work to back it up, don’t be surprised when the perks don’t come, conspiracy or not. Journalists are not “entitled” to anything from private companies; the access and respect that supposedly comes with the title has to be earned via responsible reporting.
Something constructive, hopefully
There’s been quite a bit of noise generated around this issue, so much so that it’s taken a while to digest what really is going on. I’m disappointed for some of the people affected by this, but the definition discussion has the potential to generate real change, either in content or at least in attitude.
What’s surprising to me, though, is that there aren’t any alternatives being offered by IDG/Apple, as a way of mending the fences. Indeed, the Expo wants to spend its money the wisest way possible, but why not tier the categories? Offer a limited number of Expo-only passes to sites that don’t make the cut? Or, if the reason really is to buy the biggest exposure, make public a tiering system tied to circulation – X passes available to sites/publications of one size, Y passes for pubs of a smaller size, and so on, first come, first served? There would still be wailing and gnashing of teeth, certainly, because everyone who wanted in still could not be accommodated, but it would make the process more transparent. Opaque processes like this lead to additional conspiracy claims.
For the sites that intend to be commercial news? We all need to get more real news reporting in the Mac space. Press Releases, like refined sugar, are fine in moderation, but a diet consisting wholly of them will invoke premature death. And you know what? The Mac Web might just earn some of the respect it thinks it’s entitled to.