AOL Owned Tech Crunch Bites Hand That Pays Them

[Boom_70]

Have to admire their fierce desire to remain independent of their new parent.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/15/snarketing/

"In any case I thought that the way The Source Code and Summit Entertainment were trying to target the tech press and, through us, our more social media savvy readers was an intriguing marketing strategy—and an angle! I wrote my “Jake Gyllenhaal Movie ‘The Source Code’ Markets Itself To Techies“ post about that instead of turning it into a free ad for the film.

Apparently, the post was not enough of a blowjob for Summit, and they let it be known to the AOL person at Moviefone who hooked us up with them in the first place. This morning I received this email from that Moviefone/AOL Television representative:

Hey Alexia,

Hope you’re having a good time at SxSW and that it’s not been too crazy busy for you!

First wanted to thank you for covering Source Code/attending the party, etc. But also wanted to raise a concern that Summit had about the piece that ran. They felt it was a little snarky and wondered if any of the snark can be toned down? I wasn’t able to view the video interviews but I think their issue is just with some of the text. Let me know if you’re able to take another look at it and make any edits. I know of course that TechCrunch has its own voice and editorial standards, so if you have good reasons not to change anything that’s fine, I just need to get back to Summit with some sort of information. Let me know."

 

[Shaggy]

God that is awesome.

 

[rmanfredi]

As someone who worked in tech and entertainment PR for about eight years, I can say that asking TechCrunch to "tone it down" is not going to end well. Michael Arrington has an ego the size of Texas (and also happens to be very, very good at what he does), so this is kind of like the Catholic Church telling Henry VIII he can't get divorced.

 

[21]

Moviefone's Ed in Chief responds. Life lesson: Think before you put stuff in writing.

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/03/15/moviefones-response-to-the-techcrunch-post/

The reality of our situation is that, as a movies site, we work with movie studios every day, and it is in our best interests to stay on good terms with them. Staying on good terms with studios means that we will relay information if asked. It does not mean that we would ever force a writer or an editor to edit their work for the sake of a studio -- or anyone else.

We take editorial integrity seriously at Moviefone, and it's painful to be depicted as a pawn of the studios when that is emphatically not the case. You may think it unseemly for a studio to request changes in an article; that's certainly your right. But the accusation of pandering on our part or crossing an editorial line is, to my mind, completely unfair, and I would hope that a reasonable reader would be able to recognize the situation for what it is -- overblown and unwarranted.

 

[Boom_70]

Moviefone's Ed in Chief responds. Life lesson: Think before you put stuff in writing.

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/03/15/moviefones-response-to-the-techcrunch-post/

The reality of our situation is that, as a movies site, we work with movie studios every day, and it is in our best interests to stay on good terms with them. Staying on good terms with studios means that we will relay information if asked. It does not mean that we would ever force a writer or an editor to edit their work for the sake of a studio -- or anyone else.

We take editorial integrity seriously at Moviefone, and it's painful to be depicted as a pawn of the studios when that is emphatically not the case. You may think it unseemly for a studio to request changes in an article; that's certainly your right. But the accusation of pandering on our part or crossing an editorial line is, to my mind, completely unfair, and I would hope that a reasonable reader would be able to recognize the situation for what it is -- overblown and unwarranted.

Man what a crock. From now on I most certainly will take anything I read on Moviefone with a grain of salt.

Tech Crunch has to deal with tech firms every day and don't seem to feel the need to stay on "good terms" with them.

The budding relationship between Michael Arrington and Ariana Huffington is going to be fun to watch. I am going to make some popcorn.

 

[SF_Express]

See, here's the thing. I kind of agree with Moviefone's editor in chief, and I thought this before I even READ her response.

She's right. TechCrunch was NOT asked to change the post. Yes, it was suggested, and maybe that rankles, but the fact is, they left it up to them:

"I know of course that TechCrunch has its own voice and editorial standards, so if you have good reasons not to change anything that’s fine ..."

So the EIC is right: All they had to do is respond, "Sorry, we stand by it, and hope you understand" or whatever, and all would have been OK.

People attempt interference in editorial in our business all the time. There are people in other parts of the company who have different agendas and priorities, and I think sometimes we get a little indignant about somebody else simply doing their job.

But if editorial has the right to say no and isn't forced into something, we should get over ourselves, say, "Thanks, but we can't" and move along without descending into a huff.

 

[Boom_70]

Aol / Tech Crunch relationship seems to be falling apart.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/06/editorial-independence/

 

[YankeeFan]

I posted some stuff here: http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/85863/

Arrington's twitter feed: http://twitter.com/#!/ARRINGTON

has been hysterical. He'll retweet anybody who says something nice about him right now. And, he's tried pretty hard to discredit David Carr's article in the Times.

 

[Boom_70]

I am an avid reader of Tech Crunch and it's clear that AOL has forbidden Tech Crunch to write anything about AOL.
Prior to merger with Huffington Post TC was Aol's biggest critic.

It was only a matter of time for this one to blow up