[acdha]

The Washington Post is in the information industry - paper used to be the medium but that’s changed since the turn of the century and they employ a number of top-notch engineers. Referring to them as “the paper belt” makes as much sense as referring to Microsoft as being in the floppy disk industry because they previously used a lot of those.

Part of what you’re seeing is just that the tech giants are integral to modern society and get covered the way e.g. railroads were a century ago. I think it’s especially strong for companies like Facebook, however, because they’ve not only taken the lion’s share of the profits and lowered standards in a way which has had real-world impact, and things like Facebook’s infamous pivot to video or Google’s AMP were bad-faith attempts to give tech companies more control over journalism. Angry bees are to be expected after kicking the hive.

[Taikonerd]

> Angry bees are to be expected after kicking the hive.

They may be angry, but newspaper coverage isn't supposed to be about settling scores and getting revenge on the companies that threatened your profits. It's supposed to be about reporting facts and making reasonable inferences.

I know that ideal isn't always adhered to, but let's not excuse the media too quickly when they behave badly.

[acdha]

Is this settling scores? It looks more to me like tech companies have lost the halo and are no longer getting the assumption of benevolence.

[Taikonerd]

I think your own "angry bees" metaphor implies that this isn't just returning to neutral coverage of tech companies ;-)

[acdha]

True. I was using it more in the sense that they were largely ignored for years or covered only in terms of new product releases, often with very fawning “here's how <x> is making your life better” tone by a tech reporter who was basically assuming that their readers were probably going to use/buy whatever it was.

Now they're getting the kind of coverage companies in industries without that soft glow get, and I think they're missing the time when e.g. stories used Facebook as shorthand for where you share pictures with your friends rather than where your grandparents are misinformed.

[AlchemistCamp]

The "paper" in Paper belt refers to credentials from prestigious institutions, not newspapers themselves per se. See: https://amzn.to/3tt6V92

[acdha]

Ah, that's a term I hadn't seen before although it looks like Balaji Srinivasan was trying to popularize it as a way of dismissing criticism.