"Death to the Embargo:" TechCrunch Draws Line in Sand

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, fed up with the press release embargo game of hot and cold played between PR folks and journalists (especially online journalists), is taking the bold stance of completely ignoring embargoes altogether. His post excoriates a system that encourages media outlets to break embargoes repeatedly.

If a blog or journal actually waits for the embargo release date, more than likely someone else will have already broken the embargo date and gotten the first jump on the story. Punishments for breaking an embargo are mild to nil, according to Arrington, in effect encouraging news channels to ignore disseminators' requests to delay the news until a specified time. With media outlets hoping to get maximum exposure and readership, it follows that their news must be as fresh as possible. Why, then, would they honor embargoed information if they knew that a competitor was more than likely to air the story first by blissfully ignoring the embargo?

Arrington refuses to play this game by such vague rules, stating quite conclusively that he and TechCrunch are to begin breaking embargoes at will, "by one minute or three days. We’ll choose at random." It seems he feels the only sensible way through embargo anarchy is a consistent approach: ignore them completely.

There are exceptions, such as the agency that handles Microsoft's public relations, as well as Google's in-house PR. Those two entities punish media that break embargoes, sometimes shunning them completely for up to one year. As such, Microsoft and Google's embargoes are rarely broken. And Arrington claims he respects, and will continue to honor, embargoes such as these that are actually taken seriously.

In a timely bit of embargo-blasting, Jalopnik happily blew through Chrysler's embargoed information about its future product plans that some are terming "lipstick on a foam pig." You see, Jalopnik wasn't invited to the Chrysler press conference, and as such they claim they are not held to any embargo. So they chatted with their fellow journalists who did attend and were tickled pink to leak the news all over the Internets on Wednesday. The leak was a direct jab at Chrysler PR guy Rick Denau, who Jalopnik faults as having a "continually shortsighted approach to the internet" as well as their readership.--Colin Mathews
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Make sure you check out our partner sites dedicated to focused news, reviews and more for Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, and the Toyota Prius. creative commons - flickr.com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelhenderson/866523877/Enlarge PhotoMichael Arrington of TechCrunch, fed up with the press release embargo game of hot and cold played between PR folks and journalists (especially online journalists), is taking the bold stance of completely ignoring embargoes altogether. His post excoriates a system that encourages media outlets to break embargoes repeatedly. If a blog or journal actually waits for the embargo release date, more than likely someone else will have already broken the embargo date and gotten the first jump on the story. Punishments for breaking an embargo are mild to nil, according to Arrington, in effect encouraging news channels to ignore disseminators' requests to delay the news until a specified time. With media outlets hoping to get maximum exposure and readership, it follows that their news must be as fresh as possible. Why, then, would they honor embargoed information if they knew that a competitor was more than likely to air the story first by blissfully ignoring the embargo? Arrington refuses to play this game by such vague rules, stating quite conclusively that he and TechCrunch are to begin breaking embargoes at will, "by one minute or three days. We’ll choose at random." It seems he feels the only sensible way through embargo anarchy is a consistent approach: ignore them completely. There are exceptions, such as the agency that handles Microsoft's public relations, as well as Google's in-house PR. Those two entities punish media that break embargoes, sometimes shunning them completely for up to one year. As such, Microsoft and Google's embargoes are rarely broken. And Arrington claims he respects, and will continue to honor, embargoes such as these that are actually taken seriously. In a timely bit of embargo-blasting, Jalopnik happily blew through Chrysler's embargoed information about its future product plans that some are terming "lipstick on a foam pig." You see, Jalopnik wasn't invited to the Chrysler press conference, and as such they claim they are not held to any embargo. So they chatted with their fellow journalists who did attend and were tickled pink to leak the news all over the Internets on Wednesday. The leak was a direct jab at Chrysler PR guy Rick Denau, who Jalopnik faults as having a "continually shortsighted approach to the internet" as well as their readership.--Colin Mathews --- Make sure you check out our partner sites dedicated to focused news, reviews and more for Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, and the Toyota Prius.