I Love my Mac…
… and you could easily claim that I am a big fan of Apple. Hell, presently three of them are humming in the house — even our boat has a set up for two. And I just love my iPhone. There is no way I would touch a PC for any serious work…
On top of that: I’ve said — just like many others — that iPad will change lots of things in the traditional media and that 2010 will be remembered as the “year of the tablet”. And I stand behind that.
But here’s the point: having said that, I have to admit that I strongly agree with Dan Gillmor from Mediactive: for journalism the recent developments are really scary. Read the original article - it is a long one but worth every word of it. He has been critical over the iPhone/iPad for some time and with a reason. Quid pro quo… Are we so eager to embrace this new gadget (iPad) that it totally blocks our brains as journalists? That we accept anything to get this new shiny toy into our repertoire? 2010 as the year of the tablet is getting a brand new meaning.
Remember the words of this seasoned editor in The Washington Post in the film All the president’s men?
” You get them by the balls and their bodies and minds will follow”.
Because that what the game is about.
Just read the article — and then sit down and think for a while.
- iPad ad on the Apple site during the past weeks.
3 Replies to “I Love my Mac…”
Remember that famous Apple Super Bowl ad, where the rebel runs up the aisle and throws a hammer into a huge TV screen, shattering the image of the Maximum Leader? Now it’s Apple behind that screen. Apple has become a very Chinese company.
What really surprises me is the lack of reaction from the journalists and media organizations. Sure, The Print is dying and thus willing to embrace anything… but how about some common sense?
Mark Fiore wins a Pulizer, but cannot get his stuff shown in the Apple devices (as an app)? No bikini pictures (except from Sports Illustrated and Playboy…) How about no anti nuclear content, or anti democrat, anti republican… anti-basically-anything which does not suit Apple? Human rights in China?
Am I exaggerating? You bet. But it’s infuriating: not what Apple is doing (as I believe they — as company — can do what they want) but the lack of reaction from our (journalists) side? We just sit quiet? Just because we think that iPad can save the relic called The Print (which it can’t…) we are willing to submit ourselves for a total butt‑f.…experience?
I was so happy to see Niemann Journalism Lab’s Laura McGanns article as well as Colombia Journalism Reviews reactions today (see Mediactive on the sidebar). Worth reading.
k