Interview with Ashlee Vance, reporter for the The Register

I originally posted this interview with Ashlee Vance in my personal blog, but thought I'd share here as well as it received a lot of positive feedback...

I’ve said before that the Register is one of my favorite publications and not just because it features stunner headlines such as this one, "Salty seamen's erotic viewing blocks emergency radio.".

So, you can imagine how pleased I was that enterprise hardware and software reporter Ashlee Vance agreed to participate in my interview series. Ashlee’s reporting is brutally honest and always entertaining. He calls them as he sees them.

It’s not a journalistic style that would work at some publications, where editors might worry about "scaring off" advertisers. That’s another thing that I like about The Register… you can tell that they’re writing for their audience, not their sponsors.

I asked Ashlee for his views on working at the Register versus other publications (his work has appeared in The New York Times, IDG, The Industry Standard and a myriad of other outlets), as well as blogging, citizen journalists, and PR. True to form, his answers are direct and candid.

I hope you will enjoy hearing his views as much as I did.

Ashlee, the last US presidential election gave exposure to what has been a growing movement for some time: bloggers as reporters. What's your opinion on grassroots journalism and the citizen journalist?

    "The idea of someone taking interest in a subject and shedding more light on it is great. And, if the internet or blogs give people the impression that their voice will be heard and that pursuing something with vigor is thus a worthwhile cause, then more power to the web.

    The big thing that people forget though is that this stuff has to be good - really good. It's not like just because you figured out WordPress and think something is neat or controversial that it then matters or is compelling to read for other people. I find that this talk of citizen journalism often leaves out the constant theme of "what does the reader want" that is beaten into every reporter's head again and again and again.

    Sure, reporters can and often do miss what the public wants at a given moment. They are hardly a perfect bunch. But at least they're aware of this idea. So much of the citizen journalist "movement" seems to be attached to the information puke stream where you just vomit out random thoughts, links to other blogs and painful to read observations. I can't see how that helps anything.

    Not to be too long winded, he says, as he gets too long winded. But one of the funnier things I remember thinking when first starting out as a reporter is simply that I get paid to sit and read and hear and learn everything possible about one subject - my beat. Anyone could do it. The problem is that other people have jobs and don't have the time.

    So my task is to take the interesting information and then present it in an interesting form to the people who don't have time to do what I do. Any journalist - pro, citizen or otherwise - pretty much does the same thing. Some get paid for it and cover a wide area, others do it as a hobbie and focus on a narrow patch.

    No matter what, however, you have to be good. Most journalists are pretty crap. I wouldn't say more crap than any other profession but still crap. By the same token, most citizen bloggers are crap. And they are probably even worse because they don't have any news judgement or "think of the reader" training."

Turning it around somewhat, what's your opinion of reporters as bloggers (some of the well known examples being folks like Tom Foremski and John Dvorak)?

    "Dvorak is a really interesting example. Always the entrepreneur, he leveraged his good name as a tech journalist to start the blog and generate interest but then added a lot of non-tech comment. Now Dvorak.org is really one of the more compelling blogs out there. It has this great sarcastic take on politics and just odd stuff that you won't find anywhere else.

    You can see Dvorak's skills and experience as a journo come through on the site whether it's the topics, headilnes or commentary, and it seems to serve him well.

    People often get this notion that they can just start blogging away and get a meaningful audience. Such cases are rare. It's very difficult to obtain and maintain an audience. Having a name like Dvorak - not that type of name but rather "a name" - can make the audience gathering easier."

Just yesterday I was reading a series of related blog posts that imply that, Print Media = responsible, facts checked, unbiased, Online Media = quick, some compromises, Bloggers = opinionated, no guarantees on accuracy. Of course, this is a blanket statement, but it seems to be an impression that's forming in the minds of many. What's your take?

    "Well, in all of these cases, the most accurate stories will result from the most accurate, thorough reporter regardless of the mechanism. Seems pretty trivial - even dumb - to say, but people seem to forget this.

    Having a news organization around can help because it means more people are reading the copy and usually asking more questions, which is good. My editors have certainly caught a number of mistakes that I simply could not see in the stories either because I had read them too many times already or was moving on to the next thing too quickly. Or because I didn't understand something well enough - but that rarely if ever happens, especially for a Vulture.

    I think back to when Felt was outed as Deep Throat, and lots of the boring scum on the TV news channels asked, "Could the Post break a story like that today? Is it possible in today's media?" I don't even really know what that question means. It seemed to be a combination of "Would big media have the balls to back these reporters against the precious Whitehouse?" and "Are reporters good enough these days to pull it off?"

    Duh, not many reporters are good enough to do it. But, yes, some are. Go back and read All the President's Men and see their methods. Anyone who uses similar techniques, who is diligent and honest, can report accurately no matter if it's in the New York Times or on the back of a napkin."

I've made no secret on this blog that The Register is one of my favorite publications because of its honest, in your face style. How would you compare the overall working atmosphere and journalistic freedom at The Register versus larger news outlets were you've worked?

    "Ahhhh, my favorite question so far. The Register is a lot like heaven.

    More than anything I love that you can write just about any story in any style you want. You don't have to use the same tone or format. Some days you might be a bit lazier than others and bang out three stories that sound similar. Other days, however, you can knock out a story that really looks nothing like other tech reporting that's out there. The Register lets you be a writer and not just a reporter, which isn't impossible elsewhere but can be harder to do. At El Reg, you get more chances to try more things, which can lead to mistakes as far as tone mistakes or simply not so pleasant to read stories on occasion. But that's how you learn.

    On a larger scale, The Register is just more aggressive than other places I have worked and less concerned about what the vendors or people we cover think about us.

    It was funny to see CNET bragging about being blacklisted by Google and seeing a number of publications - The Register included - writing that up. I mean, it was obviously a story because Google made itself look so bad, and because it was, well Google, involved. But, geez, if we did a story every time we were blacklisted by a company or really pissed a company off, there would be no room for anything else.

    Vendors that understand how loyal and smart and influential our readership is really "get it" and generally have no problems with what we write. They benefit because of their stance in a number of ways that are too complex to get into here. Those that don't "get it" really lose out. You won't find a closer link between a publication and its readers than at The Reg. We have a real dialogue going, which, I think, means more to the readers than some AP story they find on Yahoo! News. Did I mention that we love our readers?"

This blog has many readers who work in public relations and communications. What are some of the top things you'd like PR folks to keep in mind when working with you?

    "Rule number one would be have a sense of humor. We're not enemies. This stuff isn't meant to be taken personally. If you come to me with some cheesy release that you know is questionable in the first place, then don't be surprised or hurt when we stitch you up.

    PR in the UK seem more used to dealing with our style of reporting and a more vigilant press. They'll have a laugh with you over a release or just be much more up front and, I think, honest about what's going on. You know, don't be afraid to be human. I'd like to see that more here."

Without naming names, do you have a particular horror story that would illustrate what PR people should not do?

    "This seems like one of those "no comment" moments that your kind is so fond of.

    There are so many gaffes that it's hard to pick one. It's always hilarious when you accidentally get e-mailed a draft copy of a press release that has bits like "Insert CEO quote here: say something cheerful" or "VP quote not cheerful enough" or "Don't mention vendor X" in it. Then about 20 minutes later, the flack realizes what he's done and has to send the humble "Please excuse my huge mistake" e-mail.

    I also remember questioning a flack once about a deal between his client - a start-up - and Dell. The flack went so far as to fax me large chunks of the contract between the two companies. I'm sure the lawyers at Dell would have shared a coronary had we published the document.

    Still, I appreciated the service."

Ashlee’s articles appear daily in The Register which is accessible via the web at http://www.theregister.co.uk/ and via RSS. The Odds&Sods section is an absolute must-have for any news reader.

Posted at 10:55AM Nov 08, 2006 by Catherine Helzerman in Interviews  |  Comments[0] Tag it: