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Subscribe via Email... so the BBC just reported it ...
Yes, the BBC's huge technology coverage bias towards the Redmond direction continues. As Darren Adams and others have pointed out, the BBC (which is supposed to be impartial and definitely not funded by advertising or sponsorship, of course) has a history of reporting every twitch of the MS PR machine, and offers barely a mention of IBMs significant announcements or discoveries.
The latest example is this article covering Microsoft's announcement of the new Live Mesh service:
Microsoft has lifted the lid on a new web service called Live Mesh, designed to connect a multiplicity of devices and applications online.So, Microsoft's "me too" announcement gets far more coverage than any of the other vendors mentioned in the article (Salesforce.com, Google, Amazon etc.) own offerings, and indeed, far more than it actually deserves.The service is seen by many as a key plank in the company's vision for the future of the web.
Live Mesh is designed to blur the lines between running software and storing data on a desktop and "in the cloud".
Microsoft's Amit Mital said Live Mesh would "connect and bring devices together... to work in concert".
Check out this list:
| Vendor | Hits on BBC site |
| Microsoft | 160,000 |
| 146,000 | |
| IBM | 22,800 |
| Lotus | 9,640 (including Lotus flowers, Lotus cars etc.) |
| Amazon.com | 1,470 |
Hmmm.... Bias? What does it look like to you?
By: Stuart McIntyre | 1 Comments | On: 23 April 2008 11:24:08 | Tags: microsoft bbc
Comments
When I worked as a journalist in Sweden, the publication I wrote for got similar accusations about being Microsoft biased.
But there are several reasons that a company get more coverage:
1. A large amount of the readers use the company's products. When 95% of the market used Windows, announcement in that area. A service pack to Office in that area were more news worthy than a new version of some distribution of Linux or an update to OpenOffice.
2. The quality of the press release. If the press release is not well written and explain what is new, and contain most of the important details, it is sometimes hard to see what the news value is. Microsoft were at least in the 90's very good at writing press releases, while IBM and many other companies did not even explain what the news was when they released a new laptop...
3. The target audience of the publication/media outlet. The publication I wrote for in Sweden targets CIO and other upper- and mid-level executives. I assume BBC target more "ordinary" people. None of them are that interested in Linux, Symphony, etc. At least the BBC readers are probably not interested in Quickr, for example. They are interested in the products they already use (at home and at work).
Lotus in Sweden used to have a really good PR agency, a small company with a technically competend (former journalist) as owner. Then the IBM PR agency (Text100, I think) took over, and quality dropped at once... An dthe coverage suffered from that, of course.
Fair comments... Doesn't mean that IBM shouldn't be doing more to change the situation though. Nor that the BBC is at fault when it comes to the bias angle..