Substitute "President Bush" or "John Kerry" for "iPod" in the current rash of stories about an upcoming announcement from Apple and media critics would be screaming about partisan hack journalism.

I've got nothing against Apple - have been a proud Mac user for years - or the iPod, but these stories illustrate one of the worst aspects of technology business journalism: the myopia that leads some journalists and publications to amplify new product announcements into major news events.

In the grand tradition of TV tabloid shows like Entertainment Tonight singing the praises of the latest "breakthough" TV sit-com , Ina Fried's story on CNET today breathlessly announces, "In an invitation to the event, Apple said only that 'Steve Jobs, Bono and The Edge invite you to a special event.' "

Note that the Apple press invite hasn't even been rewritten, it's reproduced without editorial intervention.

Fried goes on to note that "Bono and The Edge are members of the band U2, whose song "Vertigo" is featured in an Apple commercial and is also the top-selling song at Apple's iTunes Music Store."

Where Fried speculates the announcement concerns a special U2 edition of the iPod, pre-loaded with the band's songs, Tony Smith, in The Register, digs deep and trumpets the rumor that the new iPod will be - stop the presses! - black.

It's unfair to single out Fried and Snow for this sort of thing; they appear to be thorough, hard-working journalists published by reputable publications.

What they do in these stories has been common practice in business journalism - both general reader publications and business press - for all of the 20+ years I've been covering Silicon Valley, and it wasn't new when I got here.

"But it is news," the journalists and their editors will respond, "People are interested in the next new iPod."

Indeed. And there's a good place for it: in the New Products section, or Industry Rumors.

It's also true that this kind of story makes technology business journalists, and publications, look like cheerleaders for the companies they write about.

Combine this perceived boosterism with paid advertisements from the companies thus featured in these "news" stories and you've got a recipe for planting the seed of doubt in a reader's mind about whether or not she's receiving objective news, or just product announcement press releases regurgitated to guarantee a continuing flow of ad sales dollars.

No wonder blogs, with their reputation for unvarnished facts and straight talk, are enjoying a boom, winning a level of trust from readers that business journalists lost long ago.

Links:

Apple event could bring iPod news by Ina Fried (with assistance of John Borland), CNET, 19 October 2004

Apple preps 'black iPod' U2 limited edition promo by Tony Smith, The Register, 19 October 2004