Parasitic Tech Journalism Is On The Rise

Predatory tech journalism, just one of the many side effects of democratised media?

There is definitely an element of rant to this article, but true to my style, I’ll stick to the point, I’ll dissect the point and perhaps even end on a note of encouragement, because pure complaining is both old and useless. But it’s a complaint nevertheless against every tech writer, blogger and vlogger attempting to cash in on an era of endless appetite for tech news without doing the bare minimum of due diligence. The web is so chock-full of sensationalised tech-related content, it’s shocking. And as if that wasn’t enough already, here come the new “journalists”, who do nothing more than regurgitate what others have spent money, research, and effort on.

If I state that 50% of tech journalists are essentially parasites feeding off real journalists’ and analysts’ work, I’m still probably underestimating their numbers.

While I’m no tech writer at The Verge, I do know a thing or two about journalistic integrity. I, myself, have likely crossed it in the past a couple of times, though I do my best not to. I try. I try very hard, in fact, and I put my money where my mouth is. Every piece of tech I reviewed, I had intimate experience with and purchased with my own funds. If I reviewed something, you can bet your ass, it either sat on my desk for days/weeks, or it still does.

It’s one of the reasons I stand behind each and every one of my reviews and ensure my readers none of it is bullshit. Because I have to. It’s the only way to differentiate myself from all the other “tech writers” who perhaps never even seen the devices they’re referring to, in person. On which note…

Dear tech reviewers, stop reviewing tech you haven’t tried.

If anyone is wondering why the likes of Snazzy, MKBHD, Luke Miani, iJustine and many others got where they got with their YouTube channels, it is because they provided genuine content. It was a lot less about audiovisual quality, but actual message. All, without exception, in their own style, talked and still do about tech that either they or one of their team tried. Yes, even MaxTech and LTT. I hate their overly sensationalised style, but you can bet anything, they talk about products they actually tried. That and only that gives a tech journalist a right to review something. Everything else, I would argue, is borderline copyright infringement, or should be classed under fiction.

The problem with writing…

Is that it takes nearly zero effort. Even for someone who never wrote a single article in their life, it’s really not that difficult to throw together 700 words after they watched a couple of YouTube videos and call it a day. Snap a highly controversial headline on it, and you got yourself a lucrative clickbait that everyone will read and everyone will hate in the comments.

There is no learning curve to shit writing… 🤣

On this particular platform for instance, I see a growing number of writers who pose as tech enthusiasts, and while I’m not claiming they’re not, there is a considerable distance between being an enthusiast and being a tech journalist or writer. The former is purely about loving something, the latter, however, is about making others read anything they come up with, be that good, bad, or anywhere in between.

And this last one is important because I don’t expect tech writers to be good, I am a massive fan of mediocrity. Perfection is overrated. If mediocrity is good enough for Woody Allen, it’s good enough for me, and it’s good enough for most of us. I expect tech writers to be somewhere in between the good and utter shite because being utter shite is parasitic. It exploits a no-barrier medium, it exploits readers who actually expect useful, real information. And no, it doesn’t even have to be professional information. It’s great when it is, but it doesn’t have to be. It just needs to be genuine, the opposite of marketing. The opposite of keynotes and ads.

Just because it’s easy to write a tech article, it’s no excuse to barf anything up and “sell” it as a review.

So, enthusiasts can’t write about tech, then?

That is absolutely not the message. The good news about tech writing, is that it can come in many shapes and forms, and while I won’t claim I have all the answers, I can certainly suggest a few that are perhaps just as interesting as a review would be, and doesn’t require getting your hands on the actual tech.

• Speculative stories. I’m not the biggest fan of them, but when done well, they can and are very thought-provoking. Granted, this does require some theoretical knowledge about the topic, and perhaps even a bit of research to tie certain bits of information together, but it’s a valid form of tech writing. If anything, half of MacRumors is exactly that!

• Listicles. I, for one, hate them, but there are people who love them, so write for them. You can collate anything into a list, even other people’s actual reviews. Something along the lines of “Top 10 MacBook Reviews of 2022” sounds like a perfectly fine story to cobble together.
• Critiques. You can have an opinion on tech events, and products presented. I write about almost every Apple Event. It’s nothing more really than sharing my impressions on what has been presented, and perhaps speculate a bit on what the actual devices might work like and what they mean to the tech industry overall.

• Columns. I wrote about columns before. They’re an excellent exercise in journalism where one’s opinion is actually the core of the article. Sure, they require some experience to pull off, but when done right, an otherwise mundane tech topic can suddenly become a fascinating read.

The main message here is that tech reviews, while popular should be reserved to those who actually tried the tech, but that reserved space is merely a slice of the tech journalism pie, and in many ways not even the most lucrative one, as reviews have a limited shelf-life of 6–12 months, whereas a speculative story on tech or a column can live on for years if abstract enough.

One’s journalistic integrity should not be put on the line for a review of a device, service, or app they never actually tried. Piggybacking on other people’s content, and presenting it as your review, is as bad as swapping your child at a hospital for another you happen to like more. If I had a penny in my pocket for every fake “review” of the M1 Pro and M2 Air I’ve seen on Medium alone, my pants would be around my ankles. I wear a double-buckle belt, so that’s a lot of pennies!

For the love of every reader out there, write about shit you know and tried. It’s the only kind of honest writing there is.

Apologies for the profanity, but when in rant-land… 🤷‍♂️

Hi there! 👋

Recently, I started a new publication — Bricks n’ Brackets — dedicated to LEGO, tech and coding. It would mean a huge deal to me if you’d follow it, though only do so, if any of those topics pique your interest. You can also read more about why I started it and what my overall goal with it is. You can also join as a writer if you’d like, as long as you submit articles around those three topics. The publication also has a YouTube, Instagram and TikTok channel. Thank you, and may the gods of creativity and success guide your day!

Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, LEGO fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer! Read my Hello story here! Subscribe and/or become a member for more stories about LEGO, tech, coding and accessibility!