Journos, like the reading public, are still human beings, and as such, we are also very much into gossip, especially if it concerns a rival publication, friendly or otherwise. Fortunately for us, we have ITJourno Asia, a portal that serves as a hub of news bytes that provides nuggets of information about what's going on in the world of journalism, especially in our little part of the world. Every once so often, IT Journo will drop a little piece of information that goes to show just how shallow, or clueless; take your pick; some journalists can be, experienced or otherwise.
Take for example, the latest person to head Stuff Malaysia, who spent some time with CHIP magazine (before and a while after they became CHIP ASEAN). To quote the fellow:
“On behalf of Stuff and as editor for the magazine, I hope to publish more articles on the neglected areas of technology, and more on re-examining the existing concepts of technology and pushing technology into new frontiers. I also hope to publish more articles on trends that affect the present and the future of technology, do stories that provide inside information on the emerging and evolving concepts in technology.”
Uh, yeah. Stuff is a gadget magazine, with it's trademark style being the shallow view of gadgets in general, and how they can help rich yuppies get laid by showing off the latest gadgets to wide eyed syeet young things with an eye for rich men with too much money to spend. By doing what you supposedly want to do, you'll be turning a gadget magazine into a tech magazine. Rich yuppies do not want to know how things work, or how tech can enrich their lives. All they really want are gadgets which look good, and more importantly, help them look good too. Make up your mind man, do you want to run a tech magazine, or a gadget magazine? Considering the title, and the history of the magazine both locally and internationally, it's got to be either one or the other. It's like saying a duck is the same thing as a chicken, with the reason being that both are birds.
