People might think Matt is overstating this but I literally heard it from NYT reporters at the time. There was a top-down decision that tech could not be covered positively, even when there was a true, newsworthy and positive story. I’d never heard anything like it. https://x.com/mattyglesias/s/mattyglesias/status/1588190763413868553
The original Matt Yglesias tweet has been deleted, but the Internet Archive has it:
I think a lot of people are totally ignorant of the background dynamic driving the drama around the checkmarks.
But what happened is that a few years ago the New York Times made a weird editorial decision with its tech coverage.
Instead of covering the industry with a business press lens or a consumer lens they started covering it with a very tough investigative lens — highly oppositional at all times and occasionally unfair.
Almost never curious about technology or in awe of progress and potential.
This was a very deliberate top-down decision.
They decided tech was a major power center that needed scrutiny and needed to be taken down a peg, and this style of coverage became very widespread and prominent in the industry.
I’m guessing you remember this?
The original Matt Yglesias tweet has been deleted, but the Internet Archive has it:
I forget, have you asked Metz about this?