Really sickening how they throw in a jibe about the lack of women, just so they can sound self righteous and distract from the immorality[0] of them trespassing on YCombinator's event.
[0] Not that it's always immoral for journalists to trespass. Clearly they play a special role in society and sometimes this might involve going to places they weren't invited. However to me this crosses the line because there is no public interest angle. Everything in the article could have been read about in (or extrapolated from) articles written by the invited journalists.
The closest I got to an on-the-record comment confirming that
press access was based on favor, not fire code, was when a YC
registration official rejected my request for a badge, for
the final time: “It’s an invite-only event for investors, and
only a few select press are invited.”
The (paywalled) article states that they attempted to get press passes but were denied, so they snuck in. Perhaps the size of the event meant that YC wanted to limit the number of press? I don't know if they have a reputation for being disruptive, I just found the whole article petty.
Trespassing is not the same as going somewhere you weren't invited. It is always wrong for journalists to trespass (i.e. on private propery), but it's not wrong for them to show up uninvited.
Curious where the line is, i.e. if Demo Days were at YC's offices (which it used to be, right?) would it be trespassing to show up uninvited? It's private property after all.
IANAL but if there's no locked doors or signs saying you aren't welcome to an apparently public place, then I don't think it's trespassing until someone asks you to leave. A shopping mall is private property too, for example.
Merely mentioning the observation is clearly an attempt to influence the reader. If I say that I notice you did not beat your wife today, then I have clearly directed the reader to an unpleasant accusation.
[0] Not that it's always immoral for journalists to trespass. Clearly they play a special role in society and sometimes this might involve going to places they weren't invited. However to me this crosses the line because there is no public interest angle. Everything in the article could have been read about in (or extrapolated from) articles written by the invited journalists.