Happy Endings Todd Stauffer
(tstauffer@webintosh.com)
Plea To Business Editors: Make It Stop
It's time for business editors to apply the same rules of journalism that most newspaper and magazine sections use in the struggle for accuracy and balance.
Stories like the Mac OS 8 "review" in BusinessWeek (http://www.businessweek.com/1997/35/b3542066.htm) this week need to be cut completely from the editorial calendar unless (a) they're clearly labeled as opinion pieces and (b) they begin to act the way we expect other journalists to act when writing news stories and news features.
One writer's opinion is not an acceptable substitute for a news feature in a business publication -- especially a feature that offers no evidence to support its claims. Let's stop running articles by the "guy in a garage" writing his opinion of a product. We have actual experts and actual guidelines for computer reviews and business technology features.
Decide Whether You're Writing Opinion or News
Yeah, this OS 8 review in BusinessWeek got me a little worked up. At least, I assume it was a review -- I noticed that no one was quoted, no industry spokespeople were mentioned, no Apple representatives cited, no surveys condensed and no technology pundits reached for comment.
Of course, there was no rating system, no benchmarks established and no team of expert testers either. So it's not your typical computer software review, either.
Putting that aside for a moment, I'd like to write my own little opinion piece about my increasing impatience over the these business writers' ignorance of journalistic principles.
Look, I'm not saying I'm Walter Cronkite here -- but I would try to get a quote from him if I was going to fry him in a "news" story I was writing.
Strive For Balance in Your Word Choice
While the business press surely loves the war and religion metaphors, I believe statements like the following are in poor taste -- something your typical city desk editor would cut with impunity. Here's the quote:
"The woman demonstrating Apple Computer's newest operating system, OS 8, voiced a familiar Mac fanatic's refrain: 'How many years will it take for Windows to catch up with Mac OS 8 and then call it revolutionary?'"
Would it be appropriate for me -- in a news story -- to write the following?
"Women demonstrated this week in Washington, voicing a familiar ERA fanatic's refrain: 'How many years will it take for women's pay to equal that of men's?"
For some reason, it doesn't hurt a business writer's integrity to call Mac users "fanatics," although, in the mainstream press, that same word is only applied to suicide cult followers and terrorists.
The fact is, poor word choice and ad hominem attacks in both these examples are hallmarks of bad journalism.
Quote Expert Sources
Here's another: "The much-improved Finder, the Mac's desktop manager, can now do several chores simultaneously. But this multitasking ability is well behind that offered by Windows 95..."
In what way? Because the Mac OS lacks preemptive multitasking? Well, that's a fact. What isn't a fact is that the Mac OS is "well behind" Windows 95's offerings. Maybe here would be a great time to balance this statement with a quote, from say, a Mac expert like, say, me.
"Actually, I rarely wait for any application to finish what it's doing before I can switch to another, since Mac programs are generally written to tighter Apple interface guidelines, forcing them to be good citizens. The only program I usually wait on is Photoshop -- and, frankly, Photoshop would eat your typical Pentium for lunch," said Todd Stauffer, noted Webintosh columnist and book author.
Use a News "Hook" and Include Relevant Current Events
But, as is often the case in opinion pieces, it's Wildstrom's interpretations of the facts that I have the most problems with. Too bad this article wasn't clearly labeled as an opinion piece, since that would help me to understand why he felt the need to interpret the facts for us.
"The fact is that Windows, which once shamelessly imitated features of the Apple desktop, has stopped being a copycat."
In nearly every respect, the Windows 95 desktop has sincerely and completely copied Apple's desktop (among other technologies). That, presumably, is one of the major reasons Microsoft recently entered into a licensing agreement with Apple, paying Apple an undisclosed amount to settle patent disputes -- potential lawsuits over Windows 95 and other technologies -- over the next few years. Apple pays Microsoft nothing.
Wildstrom unfortunately fails to mention the newsworthy cross-licensing agreement, except to say that Apple's "new cooperation" with Microsoft won't help Mac owners endure the long wait until Rhapsody arrives -- perhaps because Microsoft is worrying over its own users' wait for Windows 98, which is reported to include more features, like multiple monitor support, copied from the Mac OS.
Support Your Opinion with Facts
Here's a doozie: "System stability is a serious issue for OS 8. The failure of a single program will usually force a reboot, perhaps with data lost in the process. Windows 95 usually lets you close down just the unruly program, and NT, while not bulletproof, is extremely stable."
Now we have Wildstrom's completely unsupported opinion clearly stated as fact.
The failure of a single program will not usually force a reboot in the system, at least, not in my experience on a Power Computing PowerTower Pro running Mac OS 8. In fact, in my personal experience, Mac OS 8 offers me the most stable Mac OS platform I've worked with. And for two months that I've been running Mac OS 8 every day, 24 hours a day.
(Funny thing is, I haven't actually installed the full-version of Mac OS 8 on my main system -- I'm still running on a beta of OS 8 Apple sent me in late June.)
I know that Wildstrom is making the point that the Mac OS lacks memory protection here, but that point is buried under heresay and opinion. Why is there no mention of the fact that Windows 95 only offers memory protection for 32-bit applications? Or that Windows NT only runs 32-bit applications? Is it Wildstrom's opinion that this isn't the case?
(Maybe he could have asked me for another balancing quote. Microsoft Exchange crashes every time it closes on my Windows machine and, every few weeks, Windows Explorer manages to crash, then actually reboot my PC on its own.)
Draw Conclusions from the Actual Story
Finally, the headline: "OS 8: Almost as Easy as Windows."
The strange thing is, even in the overall tone of the story I never get the impression that the writer is making a case that Windows is easier to use than the Mac. He does seem to claim that Windows is more powerful.
But I know writers aren't always responsible for headlines -- editors are. This, then, is where I need to appeal to the business editor. Please cut out anything that's derogatory, poorly executed or just wrong in your writer's story. And, when you're writing a headline, write it about the actual story. To do that, you'll need to avoid any inclination toward sensationalism -- and actually read the story.
Business editors of the world, please unite in pursuit of a common goal -- technology journalism that adheres to a higher standard. Computers aren't just little hobbyist toys anymore, and there are very qualified, balanced journalists available to write your reviews for you.
It's time we got serious about applying the rules of journalism to the business section. People's jobs, investments and freedom to choose are at stake.
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