WTF indeed, ABC. WTF?
Gerard Mansour must be pretty pleased with his bylined article on the ABC’s technology and games blog. It’s always an honour to get your work published by the nation’s public broadcaster.
Perhaps the piece is a tad generous to mention phone company Amaysim quite so high up in the piece, but Dr Mumbo is sure there’s nothing in that.
The ABC blog
And it’s clearly unrelated to his day job:
And indeed entirely unrelated to this press release from Amaysim:
The only difference between the two items? The ABC piece misses the final quote from the Amysim press release. From one Ged Mansour.
Dr Mumbo looks forward to hearing the no doubt entirely innocent explanation for this one.
rofl.
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WTFBBQLOL!?!?!?!
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Dear ABC,
LOL (aka Lots of Love!),
Amaysim!
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Hi Tim,
Thanks for giving me the chance to respond. Oh wait, you didn’t.
Anyhow, as I said when it was first brought to my attention that the Bio (which we usually run was missing) I added it on there within 10mins of publication.
Personally, I thought it was a bad press release but made for an interesting blog. It’s not like it advertises a product in any way.
I actually like having people who work in the industry talk about their segment of the tech industry because they are usually experts and can make interesting points. Any notion that a blog shouldn’t be written or published by anyone with a vested interest is silly.
I’d be interested what your audience, of all people, thinks about companies being given op eds by media.
Nonetheless, in this case I’ve smelled the pitchforks and pulled it.
Happy?
Nick
@ABCtech
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The ABC article link isn’t working… maybe they’ve cottoned on and pulled the article?
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IMHO I am PMSL
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Nick, your overly defensive/stand-off tone doesn’t really suit. You got caught running a press release, not industry op-ed, as content on an ABC site. That’s a mess-up, and eating a little more humble pie really is in order.
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You smelt pitchforks because you did a silly thing. Well done for pulling it down. Pity about overly smug tone.
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Hi Nick,
Thanks for your comments (by the way, I have invited the ABC to comment).
I agree that it’s valid giving players within the industry a platform when they have something insightful to say.
I’m not sure I’d ever treat a press release in that way though.
If the person is that insightful, I think it would be less lazy to invite them to write a tailored opinion piece for my audience rather than simply republishing what every outlet has been sent as a press release.
As it happens, I’m personally not a fan of surveys that were clearly only commissioned with the press release in mind. Mostly I bin them.
And the truth is, when the ABC is involved, (whether fairly or not) the public holds you to a higher standard. For what it’s worth, I don’t think you met it on this occasion.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
Hi Tim,
Fair enough. My tone reflects frustration at this all happening within 10mins of publishing and not being used to being caught up in things like this.
In the tech world we actually regularly get very interesting survey results so I’m not averse to publishing some of them. The chief requirement has always been that they cant sound like an ad in any way. This one seemed fine for a light-hearted Friday afternoon blog.
I guess there’s more I could say but I’ll cop this on the chin and shut up.
Sorry to those who are upset.
I’ll adjust my publishing requirements accordingly.
Nick
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Hi Tim,
Did the ABC ever get back to you on this after you asked them to comment? Wondering what they made of it?
Regards,
Trev
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Hi Trevor,
No they didn’t, and I did chase them.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella