So there I was at Apple Macworld the day after Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, an invention so fantastic that Macolytes gathered around one of the new phones, spinning slowly inside a glass case and protected by burly guards, as awed as though they were witnessing The Oracle.
A few feet away, a young man was demonstrating the iPhone to a group of about 50-60 attendees and I snapped away, taking photos of the demo for IDG News Service.
After his presentation, I approached the man at the stage and asked what I thought would be a routine question: "What is your name?" That way, when we ran a photo of the guy demonstrating the iPhone, the caption could read something simple like, "Joe Blow, product specialist at Apple, demonstrates the new iPhone at the Macworld Conference and Expo in San Francisco."
But the guy's response was more typical Apple than typical: "You'll have to contact someone in public relations."
Again, this was not, "What will Apple's stock price be a year from now?" or "Why is the iPhone covered in Chinese lead paint?" It was "What is your name?"
I found a PR person and got the Apple corporate line: "We don't allow our employees to be identified."
I found this to be needlessly controlling and told the PR rep this, though it failed to remove the "I have no free will but to recite the Apple corporate line" smile from her face.
I thought of going back to the demo guy and saying, "I know you can't tell me your name but I missed the first part of your presentation. You know, the part where you introduced yourself to the audience. Could you go over that part again?"
Instead, I blew it off, but worried how many other journalists have inadvertently gotten themselves into trouble by identifying Steve Jobs as an employee of Apple. There must be thousands of them!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Hurd to '60 Minutes:' I'm ready!
I was covering HP CEO/chairman Mark Hurd's keynote at Oracle OpenWorld Nov. 12, 2007, and looked up from my notebook when Hurd said he was going to "take a risk."
Hurd, the able and competent, yet media-averse head of Hewlett-Packard, has eschewed interaction with the media in his two-and-a-half years on the job. So this sounded encouraging.
PR thugs ran interference against this reporter trying to question Hurd after a keynote address at the HP Technology Forum in Houston in 2006.
And a few weeks later, Hurd presided at a news conference at HP's Palo Alto headquarters at which he made prepared remarks and then ducked behind a black curtain. Reporters were instructed to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Okay, both these media interactions happened while HP was reeling from the still unfolding "Pretexting Scandal," in which HP higher-ups authorized spying to see which board members were leaking to the media. I can't tell you how many times I wrote the phrase, "used false pretenses to obtain the calling records of HP directors, employees and journalists who cover the company" during those few months.
But a year had passed, the story had faded, HP continues to chug along, passing IBM as the world's largest technology company. Maybe Hurd decided he can relax and open up.
So at Oracle OpenWorld Hurd says, "I'm taking a risk," by answering videotaped questions of convention attendees from just before his keynote. "I have not seen these questions in advance," he assured us.
Well, while he may not have seen them in advance, that doesn't mean they weren't prescreened by persons with his interests at heart, weren't scripted and weren't softball.
"What is the role of IT in business?"
"How is HP delivering on the promise of the next-generation data center?"
And, the crowd's favorite:
"Should I buy Dell or HP?"
Aside from the hilarity of Michael Dell's cameo there (just kidding), the keynote had all the spontaneity and honesty of a Bush-Cheney town hall meeting, or of a Hillary Clinton event, depending on which side you're on.
But why should I be surprised? The reason any company executive makes their convention address on a stage is so it can be stage-managed. Some of the convention keynotes I've covered over the years adopt production values like those of a Broadway show.
But some execs follow their stage performance with a real Q&A with reporters afterwards. C'mon, Mark, give it a try.
Hurd, the able and competent, yet media-averse head of Hewlett-Packard, has eschewed interaction with the media in his two-and-a-half years on the job. So this sounded encouraging.
PR thugs ran interference against this reporter trying to question Hurd after a keynote address at the HP Technology Forum in Houston in 2006.
And a few weeks later, Hurd presided at a news conference at HP's Palo Alto headquarters at which he made prepared remarks and then ducked behind a black curtain. Reporters were instructed to pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Okay, both these media interactions happened while HP was reeling from the still unfolding "Pretexting Scandal," in which HP higher-ups authorized spying to see which board members were leaking to the media. I can't tell you how many times I wrote the phrase, "used false pretenses to obtain the calling records of HP directors, employees and journalists who cover the company" during those few months.
But a year had passed, the story had faded, HP continues to chug along, passing IBM as the world's largest technology company. Maybe Hurd decided he can relax and open up.
So at Oracle OpenWorld Hurd says, "I'm taking a risk," by answering videotaped questions of convention attendees from just before his keynote. "I have not seen these questions in advance," he assured us.
Well, while he may not have seen them in advance, that doesn't mean they weren't prescreened by persons with his interests at heart, weren't scripted and weren't softball.
"What is the role of IT in business?"
"How is HP delivering on the promise of the next-generation data center?"
And, the crowd's favorite:
"Should I buy Dell or HP?"
Aside from the hilarity of Michael Dell's cameo there (just kidding), the keynote had all the spontaneity and honesty of a Bush-Cheney town hall meeting, or of a Hillary Clinton event, depending on which side you're on.
But why should I be surprised? The reason any company executive makes their convention address on a stage is so it can be stage-managed. Some of the convention keynotes I've covered over the years adopt production values like those of a Broadway show.
But some execs follow their stage performance with a real Q&A with reporters afterwards. C'mon, Mark, give it a try.
Welcome to Mullico Musings
I'm unemployed for the second time in as many years in Silicon Valley. The latest because the print/online publication for which I was employed was itself a victim of arithmetic. It's print advertising revenue was declining faster than its online ad revenue was rising. "And so it goes," as Linda Ellerbee would say.
A long time friend of mine who took pity on me by picking up the dinner tab the other night said I should create a blog.
"You should create a blog," is how she put it.
So here it goes. Between sending out resumes, writing freelance articles, combing job sites and collecting cans in my shopping cart, I intend to provide all of you who care to visit my perspective on the technology industry, life in Silicon Valley, the media, a little bit of politics and all that observational humor that makes people like Jay leno and Jerry Seinfeld millionaires.
My ambitions are modest. I only want to be a thousandaire.
Throughout my journalism career, anytime an editor would cut a big chunk of copy out of one of my stories I would say, "I'm going to put that in my memoir." So I may dump some of that in here, unless upon second glance I decide, "Wow, that was stupid. No wonder he took it out."
I may also use this blog to sound off at whim on news of the day with some outrageously uniformed remark, then regret it after receiving tons of hate e-mail and threats of violence. I will then delete the posting and deny it ever existed.
A lot of the postings on this blog will be stream-of-conciousness thinking...writing whatever comes to mind and having it travel unimpeded from my brain to my fingers to the keyboard to you. Of course, stream-of-conciousness sometimes includes thoughts while sleeping so if a posting should concern my erotic adventures with (insert name of hotty-tabloid-starlet-of-the-moment-in-or-out-of-jail here), take it with a grain of salt.
So why do I call it Mullico Musings? Well, my name is Robert Mullins and I'm one of nine children. My siblings have enjoyed rewarding careers in a variety of areas: health care, technology, legal services, publishing, plumbing supplies, hospitality and, of course, journalism, and I thought our family would make a nice giant, multi-vertical conglomerate. Y'know, the kind that would get huge no-bid, maybe even no work, but certainly no-oversight contracts in Iraq. The name Mullico's stuck with me all this time. (Memo to myself: trademark the name Mullico).
A long time friend of mine who took pity on me by picking up the dinner tab the other night said I should create a blog.
"You should create a blog," is how she put it.
So here it goes. Between sending out resumes, writing freelance articles, combing job sites and collecting cans in my shopping cart, I intend to provide all of you who care to visit my perspective on the technology industry, life in Silicon Valley, the media, a little bit of politics and all that observational humor that makes people like Jay leno and Jerry Seinfeld millionaires.
My ambitions are modest. I only want to be a thousandaire.
Throughout my journalism career, anytime an editor would cut a big chunk of copy out of one of my stories I would say, "I'm going to put that in my memoir." So I may dump some of that in here, unless upon second glance I decide, "Wow, that was stupid. No wonder he took it out."
I may also use this blog to sound off at whim on news of the day with some outrageously uniformed remark, then regret it after receiving tons of hate e-mail and threats of violence. I will then delete the posting and deny it ever existed.
A lot of the postings on this blog will be stream-of-conciousness thinking...writing whatever comes to mind and having it travel unimpeded from my brain to my fingers to the keyboard to you. Of course, stream-of-conciousness sometimes includes thoughts while sleeping so if a posting should concern my erotic adventures with (insert name of hotty-tabloid-starlet-of-the-moment-in-or-out-of-jail here), take it with a grain of salt.
So why do I call it Mullico Musings? Well, my name is Robert Mullins and I'm one of nine children. My siblings have enjoyed rewarding careers in a variety of areas: health care, technology, legal services, publishing, plumbing supplies, hospitality and, of course, journalism, and I thought our family would make a nice giant, multi-vertical conglomerate. Y'know, the kind that would get huge no-bid, maybe even no work, but certainly no-oversight contracts in Iraq. The name Mullico's stuck with me all this time. (Memo to myself: trademark the name Mullico).
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