The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication

Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt, Ph.D., is a Former Research Fellow at the University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Her expertise is in the tech news field.

Prior to her academic journey, she worked on both sides of the fence: began her career in tech public relations, representing international tech companies and entrepreneurs, and later switched sides to work as a tech journalist and a deputy editor. Those experiences led her to examine the various forces which shape the tech discourse.

 

Dr. Weiss-Blatt is a contributor to Techdirt and also published in The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Tech Policy Press, and Big Think.

 

 

 

"The TECHLASH and Tech Crisis Communication" book is about Tech Journalism and Tech PR.

 

It Tells the "Inside Story" of the Backlash Against Big Tech.

 

  

- Research Questions:

 

1. When and why did the tech coverage shift?

 

2. How did tech companies respond to the rise of tech criticism? Which crisis communication strategies were utilized?

 

3. What can we learn about the more profound changes in the power relations between the tech media and the tech giants they cover?

 

 

- Research methods:

 

1. AI-Media monitoring, Big Data analytics – to identify the tech companies' peaks of coverage and evolving criticism.

 

2. Content analysis of the tech companies' crisis responses – to reveal their strategies.

 

- Most analyses focused on Facebook, Google (Alphabet, including YouTube), Twitter, Uber, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, Yahoo, and Amazon.

Also in the book: IBM, Intel, Tesla, and Equifax (due to its data breach = "The largest data breach of personal information in history").

 

3. In-depth interviews with actors on both sides of the story, leading tech journalists and tech PR professionals – to create a virtual panel of experts, debating the broader meaning of the Techlash.

 

THE PRE-TECHLASH ERA Section
Chapter 1. Tech News and Tech Public Relations

THE TECHLASH ERA Section
Chapter 2. Big Tech – Big Scandals
Chapter 3. Tech Crisis Communication
Chapter 4. Evolving Techlash Issues

THE POST-TECHLASH ERA Section
Chapter 5. Never-Ending Criticism?

 

• The #TechlashBook Chapters - Content Outline

 

Sample chapter

You can read a free chapter of the book here:

Book2Look

 

 

 

 

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Covid-19 | Cambridge Analytica | Tech Blogs

 

 

 

• "In this deeply researched work, Nirit Weiss-Blatt provides an invaluable record of tech media's mood swing as its portrayal of Silicon Valley lurched from utopian to dystopian. This is much more than a book about tech's PR problems. Weiss-Blatt's trenchant analysis of the news industry restores nuance to the debate over technology and society."

- Jeff Jarvis, Director, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, The Leonard Tow Professor of Journalism Innovation, CUNY, Blogger, BuzzMachine. He is also the author of "What Would Google Do?", "Public Parts", "Geeks Bearing Gifts", and "Gutenberg the Geek." 

 

• "Nirit's in-depth study of tech media chronicles the reputational rise and fall of an entire industry while providing valuable insights to those who work in it. The book provides PR professionals, journalists, and students with a comprehensive analysis of the Techlash's core issues. Whether you're working in tech journalism or tech PR, the book will broader your understanding of the media scrutiny, the tech clients, and, thus, help you define the future correspondence between the two."

– Fred Cook, Chairman of Golin, Professor of Professional Practice, Director of the USC Center for Public Relations. He is also the author of "Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO."

 

 

• The full list of interviewees includes their positions at the time of the interview.
• Their observations throughout the book reflect their personal points of view and do not represent their organizations.

 

Tech journalism

The Atlantic - Alexis Madrigal, Staff Writer

The Verge - Casey Newton, Senior Editor & Silicon Valley Editor

BuzzMachine - Jeff Jarvis, Blogger / Director, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism, The Leonard Tow Professor of Journalism Innovation, CUNY (The City University of New York)

BuzzFeed News - John Paczkowski, Technology and Business Editor

Reuters News - Jonathan Weber, Global Industry Editor for Technology

TechCrunch - Josh Constine, Editor-At-Large

Recode - Kara Swisher, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Editor

New York Times - Kashmir Hill, Technology Reporter

TechDirt - Mike Masnick, Founder and Editor in Chief

The Information - Nick Wingfield, Senior Editor

CNET - Richard Nieva, Senior Reporter

Wired - Scott Thurm, Business Editor

Anonymized - Tech Editor

 

Tech public relations

LaunchSquad - Brett Weiner, Partner

WE Communications - Katie Huang Shin, President of Technology Sector and Chief Strategy Officer

Ruder Finn - Rowan Benecke, Chief Growth Officer

Golin - Stephen Jones, Executive Vice President, Catalyst Community Leader

Anonymized - Senior PR executive

 

 

 

 

• Podcasts Guest - Podchaser

 AI Hype - Explained

• TWiG (This Week in Google) Podcast: How tech journalism changed since 2016

TWiT | Podcast Guru | YouTube: Full episode | What is the TechLash? | transcript

 

• Techdirt Podcast: How the Techlash happend

SoundCloud | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | transcript

 

• Techdirt OpEd (opinion piece): Donald Trump Caused The Techlash

 

• Innovation Files Podcast: How pack journalism and predictable crisis PR responses have influenced the Techlash

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Castbox | ITIF | transcript

 

• Business Bookshelf Podcast: Dr. Nirit Weiss-Blatt - Author of "The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication"

Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Anchor.FM | Business Bookshelf | transcript

 

• NEWSWEEK OpEd: Big Tech's Art of Making Up the Rules as It Goes Along

 

• The PRovoke Media Podcast: The role of communication in Techlash

PRovoke Media | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | PodBean | transcript

 

• Techdirt OpEd: There's a Growing Backlash Against Tech's Infamous Secrecy. Why Now?

 

• Techdirt OpEd: Facebook: Amplifying the Good or the Bad? It's Getting Ugly

 

• Techdirt OpEd: TECHLASH 2.0: The Next-Gen Techlash is Bigger, Stronger & Faster

 

• Techdirt OpEd: Can We Compare Dot-Com Bubble To Today's Web3/Blockchain Craze

 

• Techdirt OpEd: What Happens When A Russian Invasion Takes Place In The Social Smartphone Era

 

• Emerald Podcast Series: Understanding the Techlash Era

Emerald | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | transcript

 

 

• Tech'ed Up Podcast: Big Tech PR: Battling Techlash

Tech'ed Up | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | transcript

 

 

• Techdirt OpEd: A Guide for Tech Journalists: How To Be Bullshit Detectors and Hype Slayers (and Not the Opposite)

 

• Keen On Podcast: Why the Techlash Has Gone Too Far

Keen On | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

 

 

• The Daily Beast OpEd: Don't Be So Certain Social Media Is Undermining Democracy

 

• Tech Policy Press OpEd: The Emerging Tech PR Template for Attacking Whistleblowers

 

• Big Think OpEd: Bombastic eulogies: Let's put an end to cynical "The End of" headlines

 

• Peoples & Things Podcast: Nirit Weiss-Blatt on The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication

Peoples & Things | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | YouTube

 

• Techdirt OpEd: AI Art is Eating the World, and We Need to Discuss its Wonders and Dangers

 

• The Daily Beast OpEd: Generative AI Is Not Our Gateway To Heaven Nor A Frankenstein Monster

 

• YouTube: AI Hype - Explained. A 25-minute version of my lecture "The Media Coverage of Generative AI."

 

• Techdirt OpEd: Overwhelmed By All The Generative AI Headlines? This Guide Is For You

 

 

- All of Nirit's Techdirt posts

 

• My comment about Facebook's rebrand to Meta generated a widespread discussion.

For example, CNN, BBC, The Guardian, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, The Mercury News, The Week UK, The London Economic, Jerusalem Post.

 

• An article in Forbes quoted the book for a discussion about the start-up's ethical movement: "In The Techlash, Nirit Weiss-Blatt chronicles the change in the nature of media coverage of the tech industry, from fawning admiration to a more critical stance that is slightly more capable of seeing warts in the sector."

 

• An article in Forbes quoted the book for a discussion about employee well-being: "Various stories of workers revolting against such practices have emerged in books such as The Techlash, by the University of Southern California's Nirit Weiss-Blatt, and Alex Rosenblatt's Uberland, with such stories taking some of the unvarnished veneers off of the march of technology in recent years."

 

• FamilyandMedia – an international think-tank with research members from Italy, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile – published a review of my book in three languages:

  English, Italian, and Spanish.

  The author of this piece is a marketing expert from Italy, who wrote: "In her book The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, she explores how – and through which means – tech companies have responded to the spreading negative sentiments about them and summarizes valuable lessons." 

 

• In the 2022 Israel Brands Index, Google ranks first. Far behind, at number 123 (!): Facebook. WHY? An interview with Globes - Israel's financial newspaper (in Hebrew & English).

 

• Engadget featured my response to Andy Stone's fabricated email: The bizarre saga of Meta, The Wire and their fight over Indian content moderation.

 

• The Washington Post published an article on how social media content moderation wars are moving into the AI culture war: The right's new culture-war target: 'Woke AI.' My quote concerns Big Tech's failed attempt to avoid those AI-content moderation battles (more context - here).