Tech journalism has always seemed more like sports journalism than hard news. The people doing the reporting tend to be enthusiasts for the companies (teams) they're reporting on, repeat press releases almost verbatim (play-by-play, injury reports), and often end up being less than objective when it comes to certain companies (home town sportscasters).
Yeah, and they mostly have no serious understanding of the technology. At least the typical sportscaster maybe played the sport in High School. He has some distant connection to the sport beyond being that of a spectator with a camera in front of him. I'd be surprised if any major tech journalist was ever a serious programmer.
They seem to be entirely obsessed with cell phones for some reason.
I think the issue is that the "tech press" is just an overgrown version of the "trade press" that exists for every industry. Somewhere out there, there are reporters writing articles abut squeegees for the janitorial industry. [1]
The "Trade Press" mostly exists to provide a vehicle for industrial vendors to advertise to their niche. They fill in the space between the ads by hiring b-grade writers who couldn't hack it at the New York Post, and get them rewrite press releases from the advertisers.
The "tech press" is exactly the same thing, only more hyperactive, trollish, and ostentatious --- to better complement the industry they cover.
I find it endearing that you think there is some reservoir of "hard news" out there. Somewhere. Maybe in some corners of peer-reviewed science journals a significant fraction of the reporting is actually "hard news", other than that it's pretty much turtles all the way down.
