Axegrinder is pleased to see US tecnology website TechCrunch offering some compassion to rival journalists from CNet.
In an article, headlined 'We'll Publish Your Story If CNet Won't', the site criticised its rival for a lack of "editorial independence" and offered CNet writers the opportunity to write articles on TechCrunch.com.
It is inviting the journalists to write about anything which might be "prohibited" on CNet and will ensure their anonymity.
It made the offer after CNet posted the following statement on an article about TV streaming service Aereo:
"Disclosure: CBS, the parent corporation of CNET, is currently in active litigation with Aereo as to the legality of its service. As a result of that conflict of interest, CNET cannot review that service going forward."
In response, TechCrunch wrote: “Editorial independence is kind of a polemic at TechCrunch. When our corporate parent, a sister or an advertiser might have an issue with a story, we write it anyway. So we have an offer to make to the writers at CNET…
“CNET staffers, we’ll happily publish any news article or review you want to write about Aereo or Dish AutoHop or anything else that you are prohibited from publishing on CNET.
“We’ll let you do this anonymously and we’ll keep your identity completely confidential. To protect your identity, you don’t need to contact us from your corporate email address, though you’ll need to prove you’re legit.
“We’ll also pay you our regular, modest freelance rate for the story.
“Because although not all of us consider ourselves journalists here, we’re all very actively invested in publishing the truth. And if your own company won’t give you the platform to do so, we will.”
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