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The Media and The Technology Sector pg. 2
By Ben Silverman
...continued from page 1
Like rap music before it, the media doesn't find tech as
intriguing as it did when it was new and threatening. The
launch of a new online service in 1999 certainly attracted
more attention than it does now. And the launch of a new
networking gear company in 2000 was probably worthy of some
ink whereas now, unless the company's headquarters
mysteriously explodes, it's doubtful you'll find a lot of
people writing about it in the newspaper. Why is this?
I think there are some simple and not so simple answers. I'm
going to go through some quick data points here highlighting
these answers...
1. Overkill: How many stories did we read about technology
that would revolutionize our lives? Look at all the press
the Segway got before it launched. One of the misperceptions
over the last decade has been that new technology would
change our lives in a fashion so radical that it would be
apparent overnight. The truth is that technology weaves its
way into our everyday lives -- it's not stitched or stapled.
2. The Bust: The tech and dot-com bust has created enormous
change in the media. First and foremost, you have less media
outlets. A lot of trade and niche magazines have fallen by
the wayside and as I mentioned before, a lot of newspapers
have scaled back tech coverage. The bust also forced
journalists to become more skeptical. What was impressive
and newsworthy a few years ago is sometimes just a sad
reminder of the past. At The Post, where we're always
skeptical, there were the usual flattering articles about
companies that imploded just months later. And, along with
my column, we had the Dead Dot-Com of The Day feature for
almost a year. From an editorial standpoint -- and I don't
speak officially for the paper -- I don't think small
technology companies are what our readers are interested in.
3. The Past: The past will catch up with you. The technology
arena is one of the few sectors were prominent executives
have been able to move onto other businesses and establish
themselves quickly. Some of this may have to do with the
young age of many tech executives. Unfortunately this sector
has a track record of failure and the media -- as it is
prone to do -- likes to focus on the negative of a
situation. One gripe I've heard from my peers is that the
same PR people who pitched "can't miss" companies two years
ago are back at it again. And the same executives who threw
away $50 million in financing are getting ready to flush
another $50 million down the drain. The media is weary and
rightfully so.
4. The Economy: Lastly, and most importantly, one reason
that tech coverage has diminished is the state of the
economy. With the economy still in flux, the business media
tends to focus on actionable stories -- news that gives
people insight into everything from investing in the market
to whether or not it's a good time to be refinancing a
house. Increased tech spending is one of the key signals of
an economic revival and we've yet to see any concrete
signals that IT spending is increasing. I'll use as evidence
of this Cisco Systems quarterly results and forward-looking
guidance that was released a few weeks ago. Cisco's news did
not excite The Street. So if IT spending is not returning,
where are the tech success stories?
There are five major areas of tech that I find compelling
and newsworthy:
- Wi-Fi
- Digital music
- Biotech
- The Online Sector
- Convergence
Wi-Fi is an interesting space, but I find more pessimists
than optimists. Venture capital is pouring into Wi-Fi
companies, but there are already analysts saying a bust
could be on the horizon. I don't see a bust taking place
because I don't see many companies actually making money on
Wi-Fi right now. While Wi-Fi and portable computing is,
without a doubt, gaining serious traction, it's still a
space devoid of big name players -- sans Intel's initiatives
-- and personally, I see the wireless carriers eventually
dominating the access space.
The digital music space is intriguing and grabs headlines
for obvious reasons -- it involves everyone from big name
artists and media conglomerates to individual consumers and
shady offshore companies. It's a compelling story to say the
least and with villains like the Recording Industry
Association of America, there's always good ink to be had.
Biotech is perhaps the most interesting tech-related space
out there but there's a learning curve involved when it
comes to the media. I caution to say that there are not many
biotech experts in the media as there should be. There's
also a problem: there are too many speculative biotech
companies that, in reality, are nothing more shell companies
with a couple of guys in a lab or an office. I'm very weary
personally about writing about biotech companies because one
company that I thought was legitimate has already burned me
but was basically a sham and being run from an office in a
strip mall. Lucky for me it was another Post columnist who
pointed it out. Who says we're all on the same team?
Dot-com's are back, I swear. The recent run of the bulls in
the dot-com sector has thrust companies like Amazon.com,
Yahoo, InterActiveCorp, Priceline.com, eBay, Overture and
even Flowers.com back into the spotlight. These companies
have established themselves as legitimate, long-term
companies and are being rewarded with less skeptical press
coverage. My point is, these companies have survived and are
brand names on either Wall Street or Main Street, and in
some cases both. It's difficult to ignore the online space
when Yahoo buys Overture for $1.6 billion.
Lastly, when I speak about convergence these days, I don't
mean it in the personal technology sense. I'm talking about
the convergence of tech, telecom and media companies.
Everyday there's more evidence that these sectors are more
closely tied than ever and good news or bad news in one
industry has a ripple effect on the others.
As I mentioned at the start, I do not cover technology -- I
cover the business of technology. I'm a willing slave to
narrowband and outside of work-related websites; I have
about a dozen websites bookmarked. I'd love to be able to
write about upstart companies and new technology, but I'm
more interested in the bottom-line and that's the type of
visibility I haven't been able to get from the technology
sector.
[Pause for applause, thank crowd, wink at nearest woman,
shake hands with someone, exit stage left, head to nearest
theatre to see "Gigli"]
--> page 1
Ben Silverman is a business columnist for The New York Post
and the publisher of the soon-to-be-relaunched
DotcomScoop.com. This article is from PR Fuel, a free weekly
newsletter on public relations produced by eReleases
(http://www.ereleases.com), the leader in press release
services for small businesses. Archived articles can be
found online at: http://www.ereleases.com/pr/prfuel.html
Copyright (c) 1998-2003 eReleases(TM) (MEK Enterprises LLC)
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