ZDNet meldt dat Apple heeft gedreigd om te stoppen met adverteren op Mac fan sites, als deze sites doorgaan met het plaatsen van geruchten over nieuwe Apple produkten. Een weinig sympathieke actie, die een bedreiging vormt voor de journalistieke onafhankelijkheid van de betrokken sites en die bovendien als regelrechte chantage bestempeld zou kunnen worden. Lang leve de vrije PC wereld:
Apple Computer Inc.'s advertising agency is offering Mac publications a choice: Get out of the rumors business or lose Apple's business. The agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, recently contacted several publications that carry Apple's advertising, and informed them of the company's concern about publications that create or circulate rumors about the Mac maker and its products, according to people familiar with the matter.[...] According to Aly Colón, a specialist on the ethics faculty of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla., the alleged request from Chiat/Day oversteps the editorial boundaries expected from an independent news organization. "A lot of it depends on how these magazines view themselves," Colón said. "If they view themselves as an extension of Apple's advertising program and believe that it's important to do what Apple tells them to do, then it makes sense not to bite the Apple that feeds you.
Thanks Dooz voor de tip.