Wednesday, July 17, 2013

HuffPo’s Betsy Isaacson Plays Softball



How much effort does it take to be “a Technology writer” for the Huffington Post? Evidently not much. In a piece on Amy Radcliffe’s “smell camera,” Betsy Isaacson (a 2012 graduate of Harvard University) puts her by-line on a piece that quotes copiously from the Guardian and Wired.

Whatevs. But if you are going to re-package everyone else’s work, why not spice it up with a contrarian view (i.e., mine)? I wrinkled my nose at Radcliffe’s stunt ten days before Ms. Isaacson got around to posting on the HuffPo. She could have googled “Amy Radcliffe” and clicked to the second page. Too much effort, I guess.

Or is there some “Women + Technology” narrative that needs to be preserved here?

Exit question: when did skepticism cease to be a job requirement for journalists?

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