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Shows how easy it is to manipulate the press. That was true in the 1990s and its true now. Lots of stories in Wired, NYT, WSJ etc. are prompted by vendors PR agencies, and do not ask enough critical questions about revenue, business models, product claims, and more.

Yes, and the image of the cover of WIRED is very telling. They have especially suffered from this over the years. For every great piece like the one Neal Stephenson wrote on the people who deploy undersea cables (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass.html), it seems like you get ten like the one shown in the article.

"to be effective in communicating a story I truly had to believe in what I was saying."

I have a sneaking suspicion that's why some bottom-feeding sales and marketing people are so good at what they do. They actually believe they're selling a great product.

"The product needs to come close to the hype"

hn may be the one place where this still goes without saying.

The Press is Our Best Product