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Gizmodo Bites the Hand That Feeds

SUNDAY JANUARY 13 2008 11:00 AM

Submitted by almostfamous. Edited By almostfamous.

TAGS: Gizmodo, CES, Pranks, Backfire

Bloggers, are they journalists? They often report the news, sometimes faster and more accurately than traditional news sources, but they're really not treated with the respect that journalists are. This attitude was evident at CES in Las Vegas, where - although some Bloggers were granted press passes - they were given their own working lounge, with lesser facilities than those of the traditional press lounge.

So, how would you go about changing this attitude to your profession, were you one of the bloggers granted a press pass? Just how do you get people to take you seriously? The best plan would probably not be to spend your time at the show sabotaging trade stands.

CES has no shortage of displays. And when MAKE offered us some TV-B-Gone clickers to bring to the show, we pretty much couldn't help ourselves. We shut off a TV. And then another. And then a wall of TVs. And we just couldn't stop.

The TV-B-Gone, if you couldn't guess from the name, is designed to turn off TVs wherever you find them. This was obviously what they were hoping the Gizmodo guys would get up to when they sent them some freebies, but the fun seems to have backfired.

We have been informed of inappropriate behavior on the show floor by a credentialed media attendee from the Web site Gizmodo, owned by Gawker Media. Specifically, the Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event. The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of CES media credentials and caused harm to CES exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future CES events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker Media are under discussion.

It's hard to see how this won't have wider ramifications for bloggers everywhere, seeing them all treated with suspicion and making it harder for any of them to get press credentials for any event. The press, after all, are welcome at these events for the publicity they bring to the new products, when you stop people publicising their products you're not helping, you're being a massive pain the ass.

27 Comments

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Bastardo

Boston, MA

January 2005

JAN 13, 2008 11:12 AM

Pulling the prank was a pretty juvenile thing to do but POSTING it on the internet for all the world to see was supremely retarded.

unfiltrator

San Francisco, CA

April 2004

JAN 13, 2008 11:17 AM

That's some guerilla antisocial press there but I already read those two blogs (MAKE and Gizmodo). But seriously, did they do it all weekend or just for 15 minutes?

scylis

Seattle, WA

November 2004

JAN 13, 2008 11:20 AM

THIS CHAIR ISN'T COMFY ENOUGH!!!!

*sabotages everything*

granted, that's rather simplifying it, but fuck! if you want better facilities, how about calling them out on it and then show them how big of a deal blogger coverage can be? grab some internet smart phones and cover the shit out of the show! they have the ability to potentially post things as they're happening! we who don't get to go would gobble it up rather than having to wait hours for half-hour shows that go over highlights, or days, maybe weeks to get our hands on newspapers and magazines covering the event! but, no, it's a much better idea to sabotage presentations and the ability for bloggers to gain some cred for the near future.

by the Lords of Kobol, what a fucking idiot!

mat8drb

United Kingdom

October 2004

JAN 13, 2008 11:31 AM

Idiots.

crispy

NEWSWIRE

Philadelphia, PA

JAN 13, 2008 11:53 AM

mat8drb said:
Idiots.

Seriously.
What are they, twelve years old? It wasn't even funny.

punk

Phoenix, AZ

January 2004

JAN 13, 2008 02:43 PM

It was a stupid move on Gizmodo's part, especially since they're one of the larger tech/gadget blogs on the Internet. If a group of their "caliber" is willing to pull off a juvenile prank like this, what does that say about other bloggers? What a great way for them to get accepted into the "real" media: pull pranks at a major convention.

Fucking nitwits.

punk

Phoenix, AZ

January 2004

JAN 13, 2008 03:17 PM

Oh, here's a fun tidbit: there was an 14-year-old Scholastic News reporter there who probably behaved himself better. CES bent the rules (no one under 16 years) to let him in with a press pass.

MrStitches

Sag Harbor, NY

November 2003

JAN 13, 2008 03:26 PM

TV-B-Gones are still seriously great. I have that there are TVs all over the damned place, all too often just running constant loops of advertising.

This was just dumb though. Ok fine, you turn off a few demo TVs, big deal no one cares, but why fuck with someone making a presentation?

lefthandright

New Zealand

September 2006

JAN 13, 2008 04:43 PM

The tv-b-gone were a lot like janet jackson's, super bowl costume...they just suffered malfunction.

Also to be dead honest..This is how america works. I would not be at all surprised if the makers of the gadget didn't have a back room hand shake with gizmodo. It thrusts how effective their product is into the news..and draws attention to the site gizmodo. -ANY PRESS IS GOOD PRESS-

This whole thing stinks just the same as the hotel that paid Marilyn Manson to destroy his suite. He looks like a bad boy rocker...they get their name in the press as a hotel worthy of housing rock stars...everyone wins....until the press found out the truth,..then they both looked losers.

punk

Phoenix, AZ

January 2004

JAN 13, 2008 06:13 PM

Gizmodo clearly states that they received the remotes directly from the manufacturer. Whether or not there was a deal involved remains unknown.

Shalome

MODERATOR

Los Angeles, CA

JAN 13, 2008 06:31 PM

What fucking jackasses.

PantherNesmith

Gloucester, VA

June 2006

JAN 13, 2008 07:29 PM

I saw this on Ctr-Alt-Del's news blog thinger.

And it was really damn immature.

No cookies for stupid people who mess things up for the rest of us.

s5

STAFF

San Francisco, CA

JAN 13, 2008 07:59 PM

CES hardly feeds Gizmodo. Personally I would love it if all the big tech bloggers skipped CES entirely to illustrate what a pointless event it's become. Nothing important gets announced there (other than "my plasma is bigger than yours" dicksizing contests), so the blogs just end up in a race to post about the latest crappy landfill bound tech trash before the other blog gets to it first. I find CES coverage to be an absolute waste of time.

Then there are the "booth babes", who drive the bottom of the barrel of mouth breathing nerds to undeserving exhibitors, while playing to the stereotype that women are just eye candy for the "boy's toys", like a bikini babe draping herself over the hood of a muscle car. It's insulting to everyone's intelligence.

Anyway, I enjoy a good prank, even a half-assed prank, and if this happened at a convention that deserved more respect, I would probably join in the outrage. But CES needs to go away. If banning Gizmodo means less CES coverage in the media, then I'm all for it.

llouys

Brazil

August 2003

JAN 13, 2008 09:03 PM

There are a bazillion blogs; Gizmodo may have made public tards of themselves, but the idea that there will be some sort of backlash against "the bloggers" is hyperbolic at best. Half these companies live and die by blog hype. (Well, if they put out anything worth talking about.)

_kungfoo_

Los Angeles, CA

April 2005

JAN 13, 2008 10:34 PM

s5 said:
CES hardly feeds Gizmodo. Personally I would love it if all the big tech bloggers skipped CES entirely to illustrate what a pointless event it's become. Nothing important gets announced there (other than "my plasma is bigger than yours" dicksizing contests), so the blogs just end up in a race to post about the latest crappy landfill bound tech trash before the other blog gets to it first. I find CES coverage to be an absolute waste of time.

Then there are the "booth babes", who drive the bottom of the barrel of mouth breathing nerds to undeserving exhibitors, while playing to the stereotype that women are just eye candy for the "boy's toys", like a bikini babe draping herself over the hood of a muscle car. It's insulting to everyone's intelligence.

Anyway, I enjoy a good prank, even a half-assed prank, and if this happened at a convention that deserved more respect, I would probably join in the outrage. But CES needs to go away. If banning Gizmodo means less CES coverage in the media, then I'm all for it.

+ fucking 1. CES is a massive corporate circle-jerk.

Gizmodo ranks higher in my opinion than other tech-blogs exactly because they don't take themselves and the tech world too seriously with a bit of self-deprecating humor. They turned off some TVs. Get a sense of humor.

Now if they're at MacWorld shining a laser into Steve eyes or start pulling fire alarms, then all bets are off.

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