write policy for relating to media

[chadwhitacre]

write policy for relating to media

[chadwhitacre]

I wrote a personal interview policy and reworked the "media" section on the brand page (should still move to a separate policy doc):

TO THE MEDIA

Are you with the media? First off: I love you, as a person. However, my take is that Gittip does not need the media at all. Rather, you need us. Those of us building Gittip are the ones doing something interesting enough to talk about (not the only ones, of course), and if you want to talk about us and what we're doing, you're, of course, welcome to. But we don't need you, and we don't owe the media anything (as a person, I owe you love and kindness and respect, etc.). We certainly don't depend on you in order to communicate with our audience. We use Twitter, etc. for that.

If you critique Gittip, I hope we welcome it and take it on board, just like any other critique.

If you would like an interview, then you are probably interested in me, Chad Whitacre, the founder of Gittip. In which case, please see my personal interview policy.

Thanks! :-)

[chadwhitacre]

@patcon Does that sit any better?

[patcon]

Maybe let's talk in person? I definitely think it's an improvement, but I personally think the media is really important, and I still think it's kinda alienating. But maybe I'm being silly :)

Mind if I direct some media-types to this thread to gut-check how it comes across to them?

[mtrythall]

Agree with media importance. I think we can keep your general feelings but seem approachable and friendly to the media.

[thefoxis]

I had the same feeling when I was reading through this section, and actually wanted to make a PR to fix. But I guess you can rephrase @whit537.

I still don't like the pharsing, "we don't need media", "you need us", "we don't owe you anything" sounds like there's some unresolved aggravation and negative feelings towards media. It also sounds a little bit cocky, which we don't want.

Honestly I'd leave it at the following:

• we love and value all feedback
• for interview inquiries get in touch with Chad, the founder of Gittip
• for press kit go here (if we want to do press kit) [Ed. https://github.com/gratipay/gratipay.com/issues/1172 -- @patcon]
• if you want to write about Gittip here's a intro paragraph for you

For me that's a media section. There's no need for saying that we are special and we don't need press. It creates unnecessary bad vibe.

The truth is we want press coverage, it's helpful for visibility, makes Gittip more profitable, etc. So we can't be stand-offish in media section.

[chadwhitacre]

sounds like there's some unresolved aggravation and negative feelings towards media.

Yeah, that's true. Backstory starts here. I've come to generally view the press as part of a system I'm trying to escape, a system of artificial pressure and manufactured stress and sensationalism. On the one hand, there's a triangle of venture capital, tech press, and startups that is really gross to me, really greedy and cut-throat and desperate. On the other hand, our society disgorges an endless stream of mindless chatter that totally sucks my soul dry sometimes. :-( In either case, I have no interest in letting the press set Gittip's agenda.

That said, I agree that we should be respectful. I've removed the "Media" section entirely from the Brand Guidelines page (it doesn't belong there one way or another). I've also buffed some of the rough edges off the interview policy over at my site. Instead of saying "I don't need you," now I'm saying "I'm not your customer."

Sorry for being so negative, and thanks for the push-back! :-)

The truth is we want press coverage, it's helpful for visibility, makes Gittip more profitable, etc. So we can't be stand-offish in media section.

In my view, we neither want nor do not want press coverage. :-)

I firmly believe that we'll do our best work when we think as little as possible about press coverage. We should do the awesomest stuff we can dream up, simply for its own sake. The press is fickle: we can't predict what story is going to strike a chord when. But, on the whole, good news spreads, so doing awesome stuff for its own sake is actually a really good way to sometimes get great press coverage.

Let's find a respectful way to give members of the press what they need to do their job when they do take an interest in us, and then focus on doing awesome stuff and telling our own story about it (blog, Twitter, etc.).

[chadwhitacre]

Honestly I'd leave it at the following:

👍 I've copied this over to gratipay/gratipay.com#1172. I think the media section/press kit should go on the main site.

[chadwhitacre]

In which case, I think our work here is done. :-)

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