TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/02/04/an-apology-to-our-readers/

by kloncks • 16 years ago

89 100 16 years ago

kloncks2• 16 years ago

To be very fair, I love how honest and forthcoming Mike was with this news. That was hard and he could have covered it up. To all the deniers and Mike-haters out there, I think this only goes to show the type of person he is.

Also, I love how the identity of the intern wasn't disclosed. Not only does it allow him to make amends and learn from his mistakes, it also shows the level of professionalism that stems from TechCrunch.

vaksel• 16 years ago

screw that, unethical behavior like this needs to be exposed...if Mike won't say who it is, I will:

if you want to know who it is go here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1102828

fuzzmeister• 16 years ago

We all make mistakes as a teenager, often involving a lack of ethics. He just happened to do it in a very public way. As Michael said, hopefully he will learn from this situation.

astrec2• 16 years ago

(Some) Stupid stuff I did as a 17 year old:

-> Deleted /var on a production system I had no right touching at a Fortune 500.

-> Drove my dad's car into a fence. Unlicensed.

-> Stole the street sign for Cobain St.

-> Plagiarised a philosophy essay (Hegel).

-> etc. etc. etc.

Seventeen year old kids mess up. Seventeen year old kids grow up.

Go easy tiger.

aresant2• 16 years ago

Deleting the guy's account and leading with "Our attorneys have advised us not to disclose the name . . ." indicates that keeping his identity secret was very low priority.

Expect a public apology from the kid in the next 24hrs.

jacquesm14• 16 years ago

Exactly. It's actually written in Mike's piece as some kind of afterthought, the legal stuff came first.

dbz• 16 years ago

Why weren't the people/person(s) who gave him the compensation fired as well? They enabled him and are just as guilty in my opinion.

acangiano• 16 years ago

Presumably the compensation came from startups willing to pay to be featured.

spicyj• 16 years ago

I believe it was not TechCrunch staff who paid him - it was outside firms who wanted to be promoted on a high-traffic technology blog.

kloncks2• 16 years ago

...how does this make sense? what outside firm was promoted on techcrunch through this news breaking?

dannyr4• 16 years ago

It takes 2 to tango. If the intern was punished, the company that bribed him should also be punished.

boucher2• 16 years ago

Giving in to coercion is hardly call for punishment. If I were Techcrunch, I'd reimburse the cost of whatever they paid.

nudist• 16 years ago

Depends on the instigator, of course.

staunch4• 16 years ago

I was never this dumb about stuff like this, but I was just as dumb about other stuff. I'd give him a second chance.

jacquesm14• 16 years ago

I'd fire his sorry ass and make him cough up the details about each and every story he's written in the past, and I would have yanked those where there was interference but I would have left the rest because those companies already written about by this character do not need to be punished if they were in the clear.

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

And I'd make very sure that every other member of the reporting staff realizes their ass is grass in case of a repetition.

If it would have been once that would be one thing, but twice and possibly more is definitely grounds for termination.

The only thing that put a stop to this is that Arrington was approached directly by a person that he trusts, and the threat of someone scooping TC on their sloppy ethics (as if that's news).

patio113• 16 years ago

In the full knowledge that this opinion will be unpopular: the crime here is not selling coverage. The crime here is selling coverage obviously while being an intern. The media, including Techcrunch, sells coverage as a matter of routine.

Sure, we'd be happy to cover your new gadget, but we'll need an exclusive on that. The exclusive will be worth, at the margin, 50,000 uniques we won't lose to Endgadget (and the attendant link equity we'll get for being first, and possibly mainstream media attention). The CPM for this blog is $10. But $500 in an envelope on the table, that is totally different. That makes us feel like we're selling coverage.

staunch4• 16 years ago

1) How much is "exclusivity" worth? Could you sell the story of your product launch to anyone?

2) Are you really providing much of anything to TC with your exclusive in terms of traffic? They drive traffic to you, not the other way around.

patio113• 16 years ago

Exclusivity is apparently worth an embargo.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/23/the-last-has-fallen-the...

As the old saying goes, after that we're just dickering about the price.

jeff18• 16 years ago

Does TechCrunch really do this?

pg3• 16 years ago

The difference is that an exclusive actually does have more news value. By definition, it's news.

patio113• 16 years ago

If Bob Smith creates a tablet computer which runs Flash and cures cancer tomorrow, that has some news value N1 and some pageview value P1. If a particular media outlet gets an exclusive on that announcement, then it has news value N2 and pageview value P2. delta(N1, N2) is zero -- it is still news tomorrow no matter how many people report it. (See: iPad, which was apparently a story of staggering importance despite having everybody and their dog say the same things about it.)

delta(P1, P2) is nonzero. Hilariously nonzero. If Steve Jobs had a fit of stupid and had given somebody the exclusive for the iPad, that would probably have been worth hundreds of millions of page views. Page views are, of course, exchangable for money. We build entire industries on that fact.

News media outlets are willing to trade things of value for exclusives. For example, PR flacks value embargoes. TechCrunch will give you one if, and only if, you give them an exclusive, despite their professed hatred for them in all other contexts. That should imply to you that TechCrunch is getting something from the exclusive -- and it isn't delta(N).

rythie• 16 years ago

Plus not telling the TechCrunch management and giving the gift to them, plus disclosing it in the post.

evansolomon• 16 years ago

Claiming an embargo is the same or even similar to cash-for-coverage is silly and immature. Is providing a press kit the same as paying for coverage? It makes the coverage cheaper for the reporter to provide, which has a monetary result.

Hating TechCrunch is certainly a popular opinion at times, and there are some reasonable stances to base that opinion on, but this is not one.

suhail• 16 years ago

It's more to do with the fact that the intern is selling coverage for his own personal gain--Techcrunch the entity gets nothing.

I see nothing wrong with exclusives. This happens regularly in business not just in news. For Techcrunch, it's simply an optimization and they are likely to not sell their news space for otherwise non-newsworthy items anyway.

pavs2• 16 years ago

Drama and TechCrunch goes hand in hand.

shaayak• 16 years ago

damn 30 points in 15 minutes!

johnl872• 16 years ago

This is what happens when you expect people to work for you for free.

aberman• 16 years ago

Really? This is what happens when you pay interns with awesome experience, rather than cash?

johnl872• 16 years ago

You're selling that as if it were so hard to get experience and get paid at the same time. I know this won't be popular, but Microsoft pays interns more than most people get paid hourly.

Aleran• 16 years ago

As a former Techcrunch intern I can attest that they do pay their interns. He may have been an exception though.

dnsworks4• 16 years ago

I have to ask, how is this any different from TechCrunch writing glowing posts about companies that spend many thousands of dollars per month on advertising? Or singing the praises of the lame startups that pay thousands of dollars to annoy people in the "Demo Pit" of TechCrunch 50?

TechCrunch isn't a newspaper, it's a blog, and an overly sensational one at that.

whalesalad• 16 years ago

I'm pretty sure the intern was Daniel Brusilovsky... he tweeted about "writing the hardest email he's ever had to write" and all his posts are 404'ing on TC.

The tweet of his: http://twitter.com/danielbru/status/8523812779

jasonwilk• 16 years ago

it was him

herdrick3• 16 years ago

Guys, don't. This isn't an adult you're talking about.

tlrobinson• 16 years ago

http://www.techcrunch.com/author/danielbru/

vs.

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:x9DbW8_sb1sJ:www.techcru...

mikeyur• 16 years ago

This was a friend of mine, really feeling bad for him. One mistake and he's paying for it. Fortunately it will eventually fade away.

Edit: http://twitter.com/loic/status/8666998987 - Loic gave some good advice, I can't get ahold of him but hopefully he'll take it.

jacquesm14• 16 years ago

I'm all for that, and also for owning up completely as to how often this happened.

TC yanking the content to avoid tainting is one thing but it would be good to know what the extent of this is.

Another thing that bothers me about this is that I can't see how a 17 year old given the keys to the kingdom would come up with such a scheme, that's hardly the first thing that crosses your mind when you start your career.

If the first instance of this was initiated by the company written about then that would change my whole idea about this.

joshfinnie• 16 years ago

See, I have a different view on this. I am not faulting the intern at all, it is really the company that wanted the write-up. If you are going to bribe someone at TechCrunch, who do you contact: Mike A. or an intern?

I think the intern's response was a good start to what is going to be some time before his reputation is back to normal, but I think we need to see who this company was and blame fault there.

jacquesm14• 16 years ago

Michael, your apology is meaningless without a very clear statement that you have learned something too, and that is not evident from your post.

If TC has posted guidelines on how its editors should behave and this person transgressed those guidelines then that's one thing.

But if TC does NOT have posted guidelines it would be comforting to know that those will be put in place after this incident, and that you will make those guidelines public.

Your lesson is that you can't just give anybody access to the TC cms without making sure they have their obligations and the consequences of transgressions spelled out.

Transparency is not spilling the beans after the fact (that's just damage control), it is making sure that the rules are known by all parties.

dreyfiz• 16 years ago

You don't need posted guidelines to know that this behavior is wrong.

jacquesm14• 16 years ago

To know not, but to not have such guidelines in place for your editorial board/writers makes it vague what is allowed and what is not.

So that's why every professional organization spells it out explicitly.

Attempts to give items worth in excess of 'x' are to be reported to management, all gifts beyond a ball-point pen or a base-ball cap are to be refused.

That sort of thing.

Have read here: http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html

For how it is done in a real news outlet.

wheels2• 16 years ago

Transcribing common sense into policy is not the way to get more common sense.

jacquesm14• 16 years ago

Leaving common sense to the judgment of 17 year olds is a great way to find out that not everybody has common sense.

You do it for their protection too.

dannyr4• 16 years ago

I know he must be protected in some way because he's not of legal age but I do not agree with deleting all his posts.

The writer has written several blog posts about milestones of important startups. I feel like I'm losing a sense of history here (though we can still find it on other blogs, google cache, etc).

Here are some of his articles that do not exists anymore:

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/23/twitter-acquires-mixer-...

http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/26/square-angels-mayer-cro...

pavs2• 16 years ago

You feel like you are loosing a sense of history? Are you serious? Is TC your ONLY news source?

dannyr4• 16 years ago

Despite it's notoriety and admit it or not, Techcrunch is still the most influential tech blog since the start of the Web 2.0 era up to now.

zaidf• 16 years ago

Stupider(read: more damaging) things are done by 17 year old kids everyday. Heck, I can't even share mine and at the time it happend I just wanted to lock myself in a room. But it taught me a lesson that I pretty much apply a few times everyday.

When the dust settles, pick yourself up and tell yourself "I'll never be that stupid again". It's been a few yrs but I still tell myself that and it usually does wonders in knocking some sense into yourself.

Psyonic• 16 years ago

While I'm sure you're right that stupider things are done by 17 year old kids everyday, the same thing could be said about 25 year olds...

minouye• 16 years ago

I'm reminded of the whole tiff between Arrington and Leo Laporte. Irony anyone?

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/06/ouch/

jmintz• 16 years ago

Dan's apology: http://www.danielbru.com/2010/02/the-line-was-crossed/

I haven't ever met the guy, but much worse things are done by 17-year-olds all the time. The punishment he is receiving seems adequate to me. Hopefully he learns from it, this post is a good first step.

aresant2• 16 years ago

"In some way or another, a line was crossed that should have never been"

The "in some way or another" part I dont like, the rest is heartfelt.

But maybe there's another side of the story.

seldo• 16 years ago

It's a shame to hear this about Dan; I'd read about him before this incident in regards to his involvement with Teens in Tech. He's a very impressive individual and hopefully this is just a minor incident of letting his success get the better of him.

jakarta• 16 years ago

Considering he is just 1 year shy of being an adult, I don't buy the 'kids make mistakes' argument. The intern really must be devoid of ethics if he wants to extort laptops out of start ups that are hoping for press. The fact that it had also occurred one other time is more disturbing, it means that this was not some momentary ethical lapse but a real attempt to receive bribes.

I don't really understand how anyone can defend that kind of behavior here. With any luck, his reputation will be ruined and no one will do business with him again. He'll issue an apology - and why not, he has nothing to lose right?

From my experience, people with poor ethics tend to be serial offenders. There was a kid at my high school that was caught doctoring his transcript in hopes of getting into an ivy league school. He was caught and apologized. Earlier this year, as a senior in college, he was caught again -- this time forging e-mails from recruiters to create leverage for a better job opportunity on Wall Street.

ugh• 16 years ago

One year shy of being an adult? I've met 18 year olds and they are not adults.

Give him a break. And a second chance. Only call him a serial offender if he actually is one. Do you really believe that he should be punished for life ("no one will do business with him again")? What a fucked up attitude is that?

noarchy2• 16 years ago

That must be what they call "tough love" in the US. Plus, you get the added benefit of looking tough versus those naughty rule breakers. And who doesn't want to look tough?

jacquesm14• 16 years ago

Well, according to Arringtons post he already is a serial offender, at least two instances, possibly more.

jstevens85• 16 years ago

I don't think this is a major lapse in judgement. It's standard practice for newspapers/magazines to ask for a certain number of pages of advertisements in exchange for a feature article. In fact, I know that for many smaller trade magazines, the articles are actually written by the marketing staff of the featured company.

terpua• 16 years ago

Here's a link to the now unreachable post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02...

noarchy2• 16 years ago

You think this teen was influenced by what he saw around him? Media people get freebies and perks all the time. Was this kid's mistake in the fact that he asked for them? Or that he got caught doing so?

rjurney• 16 years ago

He's 17. Think of the dumbest thing you did at 17. Now imagine it made TechCrunch.

What a joke.

gte910h3• 16 years ago

http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familylife/annualconfabstracts/brain_...

Folks, he's 17. This is a 17 year olds type of mistake. His brain isn't fully developed yet.

In a past era, it would have just been covered up.

lucifer• 16 years ago

"In a past era" a 17 year old male would have been a married man with children and serious social responsibilities.

hexis• 16 years ago

Yes, that's how mistakes were covered up, exactly.

gte910h3• 16 years ago

And his brain still would have not been developed.

And the newspaper in question would have just covered up the mistakes.

mronge• 16 years ago

I want to add that he wrote a post about my company and product (Rocketbox, http://www.getrocketbox.com), but ABSOLUTELY NO COMPENSATION CHANGED HANDS. I would think that most of the companies he wrote about are in a similar situation, where they did nothing wrong but their article has also been deleted.

I hope he learns from this, and it kinda sucks my article is gone.

TechCrunch Intern Admits To Asking For Compensation For Writing Posts

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