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	Phil's Blogservations Tuesday, September 20, 2005 Posted by philgomes 11:36 AM More Heavy-Handedness From Google More Heavy-Handedness From Google I love Google. I really do. I use several Google online properties every day. It's like oxygen — I'd start missing it very quickly if it wasn't there. But, sweet Buddha on a glazed doughnut, why must they insist on taking such a draconian approach to their communications? Here's the latest, according to the Google-blacklisted CNET: Google is planning a partner forum for about 400 people, including bloggers and journalists from major media outlets, and is prohibiting participants from writing about it, according to a search engine industry expert. Now, class... What do journalists and bloggers do? Listen and observe. And what do they do after listening and observing? They write. I've brought up their heavy-handed approach to PR before. This behavior from the owners of Blogger.Com seems so, well, incommensurate with the blogosphere, really. (Must be something in the water.) When I started out in PR, one of my favorite journalists to chat with was Andy Santoni of InfoWorld, who passed away in 1998. He was based in their San Mateo, Calif., office. In one conversation, we started discussing business (which was Hitachi Semiconductor's SuperH CPU for me at the time) and I asked, "So what's going on over there?" (I learned that I needed to block out extra time to talk with Andy. His observations about technology and PR were always highly entertaining.) Anyway, Andy was pissed. Back then, a leading PC infrastructure vendor held an executive-level conference every year in southern California. (Those of you who have been in this industry a long time can pierce my lame veil of anonymity here.) One year, the company decided to slap an NDA onto attendees as a requirement of attendance. "Let me get this straight," Andy asked, genuinely puzzled. "I'm a journalist. I write about stuff. If I travel somewhere, I'm expected to produce some kind of product for my magazine. Now, typically, this takes the form of an article." The man had a point. Vague promises of getting the inside track on PC development didn't matter so much when a journalist was expected to deliver copy. Google can get away with this behavior now because, well, they're Google. They have a great success story, phenomenal technology, and enjoy a richly deserved status as the pre-emptive metaphor for all-things-search. But this is the wrong kind of event for the wrong kind of audience. Sure, they got some heavy-hitters to show up — like Mr. Sulzberger from the Times, whose job is quite far away from the news desk — but they're irritating a lot of folks here. As I've said before, I'm not going to commit the folly of betting against Google. But I do know that karma works. Link courtesy of Dan Gillmor. HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.