Ryan's a smart guy, but he has got this one wrong.<p>Product launches ARE news, no matter how you slice it. News is simply a product of what people want to know about, plus what people SHOULD know about.<p>So people want to know about new Apple products. So the news media delivers.<p>But they also SHOULD know about things like the failure of iOS 6 maps, which has been roundly slammed by the media. If the media were truly in bed with Apple, would it be writing this kind of negative portrayal?<p>Is there symbiotic relationship between the marketing departments of companies and journalists? Absolutely. Do journalists give them free passes? Hell no.
There is a show run by the government broadcaster in Australia called Mediawatch. It does just that, keeps watch on the news organisations to highlight when they are acting inappropriately.<p>They did a short segment on the launch of the new iPad this year [0] in which they echoed the sentiments of this article. They were especially critical of the excessive coverage given by the government broadcaster themselves, which is supposed to be particularly careful when it comes to even mentioning brand names in most other contexts (e.g. They never use the sponsors names when referring to sporting stadiums):<p>"Why on earth, we wondered, did ABC News Breakfast spend nine minutes in all on a bunch of techheads queuing outside a shop with a piece of fruit on it, to buy a marginally updated product that they could have got anywhere?"<p>[0] www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s3464157.htm (the video and transcript are both here).
I read it. The whole article. And all I can think after digesting what I read is, "U mad?" I think this journalist is just irritated that someone scolded them for "working the news cycle."<p>And it's not clear why saying, "Well Apple's events are also over covered!" is somehow a dodge for "The RNC is being massively overcovered."<p>P.S., If anything CES is undercovered. In the 10 years I've been following it I've never once felt like I have any clue what is going on there.
This article is wrong. I am always interested in hearing about Apple's products because they are so incredibly good, and the new features often have a dramatic impact on my life.<p>The 2007 iPhone introduction showed me what my future phone would look like. The latest LTE feature on iPhone 5? Awesome because it means I won't have to hunt around for wifi once it becomes widespread.<p>To sum it up, people care about these announcements because the company that makes them actually delivers (and they do it in style).
The advertising buys are misleading, as Apple doesn't include (or directly disclose afaik) the money spent on their paid placements, which anyone who watches western media knows is quite substantial.
Good for a company if they don't need to spend in advertising. For me, in an ideal world word of mouth if the product is good should be enough.<p>Apple master the process of creating expectations and surprising people, in their staged announcements, good for them.<p>Why the hate? envy?
Ridiculous metaphors FTW: "You know, the twice or often thrice yearly events that bring everyone out to Cupertino, where they stand in line and contribute a few licks to the collective rim job the press loves to give Apple."
I'm deeply suspicious of this article, because it could have been written and published any time over the past several years, but Holiday chose today. My cynical impression is that he's just riding the wave of iPhone news and using a sensational headline to drive traffic. Oh, and what's this?<p>"Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of Trust Me I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator and a PR strategist for brands and writers."<p>It seems ironic to me that someone would lambast Apple for getting a free ride in the media, only to end the article with an advertisement of his own.
It's hardly a free ride. Sure, journalists pay more attention to apple than they maybe deserve, but that's not because journalists have some great apple bias. it's because the apple PR department works their asses off to cater to journalists and make their product launches media friendly events. They deliver their product in easily reportable chunks, and they craft a public image so that news about apple is what the media's customers want to read about.
"The media, when it’s functioning properly, should protect the public from marketers and their ceaseless attempts to trick people into buying things."<p>This may be true, but had media ever "functioned properly?". Nearly every media outlet generates far more revenue from advertising than from viewership/subscriptions. So of course the media is beholden to the marketers.
Apple masterfully plays the media with every product. The secrecy they keep before a launch leads to tons of articles speculating about features and reporting leaks. I agree with the author that it's all just a big infomercial.<p>I used to be a big Google News readers, but about a third of their Tech section is devoted to Apple, so I've gone to other sources.
There's two sides to this relationship: the media know apple sells as well, so they do their best to keep them prominent.<p>That said, the iMania can go too far at times: Today on the BBC news website (even right now), first item is "19 people killed in pakistan protests", 2nd item "Apple says map app will improve". I understand that first world problems have their share, but we 're talking about a very small part of the population that will actually care about either maps issues or the people who are affected by them.
It's heartening to see that the HN responses echo my sentiment. Also..<p>"Democrats or Republicans look too rehearsed on stage? Let’s pounce. Apple? Let’s sweep it under the rug."<p>Look too rehearsed? When presenting a demo to a client, managing an "Apple like" demo is the holy grail. Although, you could expect a political candidate to partly be "too rehearsed" and still be his real self (or his other pretend self) on stage.
Not that anyone reads newspapers anymore, but my local paper (San Jose Mercury News) is definitely guilty of this. Nearly every Apple product launch is front page news, and almost always glowingly positive. Other valley companies? Not so much.
A product launch <i>is</i> news, especially when it's something as absurdly popular as the iPhone. People lining up for days in advance, that kind of thing, is newsworthy, regardless of how you feel about the news cycle and advertising.
It's obvious people go crazy for anything new Apple launches thus you as a blogger would be foolish to not write about it... Further it's obviously newsworthy.<p>Apple brought forth the smartphone revolution ( nailed the execution and others since copied). Also they have created other things like Siri (others copied their execution too). Thus it's no surprise millions are extremely interested in what new tech they'll be releasing.<p>For me though the iPhone 5 isn't too exciting... Nothing revolutionary or profound. Personally i was hoping they'd add a QR scanner to the built in camera.
news corporations are just a proxy for what the public wants to know about. The news consumers (aka the market) dictate the type of news publishers report. Obviously we currently put a higher premium on covering apple launches and political conventions. If people did not want that, they wouldn't pay attention to those news outlets and subsequently those news outlets would either go under or change their coverage trends.