CES Ditches CNET After CBS Scandal Over Dish's Hopper 123
An anonymous reader writes in about the latest fallout from CNET's parent company, CBS banning Dish Network's hopper from reviews and award lists. "The Consumer Electronics Association has not only today bestowed its Best in Show title upon the same Dish Network product that started this whole mess in the first place — in the same release, the group says it will no longer work with CNET. CES has enjoyed a long and productive partnership with CNET and the Best of CES awards,' said Karen Chupka, the CEA's senior vice president for events and conferences. "However, we are concerned the new review policy will have a negative impact on our brand should we continue the awards relationship as currently constructed. We look forward to receiving new ideas to recognize the 'best of the best' products introduced at the International CES.""
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I didn't say it wasn't censorship. I said it wasn't the Streisand Effect. Those are 2 different things. The Streisand Effect implies censorship, but censorship doesn't imply the Streisand Effect. The Streisand Effect had absolutely nothing to do with this story.
Re:Quick (Score:5, Informative)
From the Wikipedia page [wikipedia.org]:
The Streisand effect is the phenomenon whereby an attempt to hide or remove a piece of information has the unintended consequence of publicizing the information more widely, usually facilitated by the Internet.
Isn't that exactly what happened? CBS didn't want the product to earn the award (thus giving it greater recognition and popularity), so they told CNet not to grant it the award, thereby causing extra press attention focused on the product.
If that's not enough to sway you, how about an article from the guy who is widely recognized as starting the phrase "The Streisand Effect", where he also says that this is an example of the effect?
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130111/00145421637/just-how-dumb-is-it-cbs-to-block-cnet-giving-dish-award.shtml [techdirt.com]
by Mike Masnick
Hello Streisand Effect. There were approximately one gazillion articles this week about products coming out of CES, and the place was wall to wall with journalists -- probably half of whom were coming up with their own "best of" lists. Most people were completely saturated with CES stories and would barely glance at such a story. Except... now, tons of people are suddenly finding out about this awesome Dish DVR, the Hopper with Slingbox.
I think that when the guy that coined the phrase calls it the Streisand Effect, you pretty much have to go with what he says.
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Well hey. You know, every creator is entitled to ruin their own creation. If this guy wants to do it too, then who am I to argue, but I'll always know that Barbara files suit first.
Originally the Streisand Effect was about trying to keep something from becoming public. That's not what's going on here. This was a product from a nationally known brand at the top of their field. A company that nearly every American is familiar with. And they've been publicizing the heck out of this product/feature. This produc
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This isn't s freaking law of physics, it's an Internet meme. It's meaning is what people say it is, and everyone except you seems to say otherwise.
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Originally the Streisand Effect was about trying to keep something from becoming public. That's not what's going on here. This was a product from a nationally known brand at the top of their field. A company that nearly every American is familiar with. And they've been publicizing the heck out of this product/feature. This product has been all over the news for the better part of the last year. It was WAY to late to attempt to suppress knowledge of this thing.
This is the first I have heard of this awesome new box, the Hopper. I guess it's possible that I would have heard of it also if it won the award. But then it would not have a nice stick-it-to-the-man story attached to it and I may have just skimmed over an announcement of a device that can't touch what my MythBox already does. So to me it looks like they drove attention to a device they wanted people not to notice. A perfect example of the Streisand Effect, different from the original, but still the same ef
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This is the first I have heard of this awesome new box, the Hopper.
rollseyes at Slashdot nerds who don't notice anything outside of nerd culture.
There have been commercials about the damn thing for months now.....and for DirecTV's equivalent "Genie". But you, being a slashdot nerd, will probably claim that you wrote a shell script for your MythTV box that uses ffmpeg or transcode to automatically analyze tv shows and strip commercials out of what little you record, and besides you only watch fansubbed anime in MKV format anway.
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actually it's all Netflix and Torrents lately.
So fansubbed Anime in MKV it is then. :-)
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I think I can clarify something here.
The knowledge of the existence of the Dish Network Hopper wasn't being censored.
The knowledge that it has WON best in show by CNET is what was being censored.
And possibly the actual fact of the winning itself was being overruled for corporate reasons, not legitimate technical ones.
So from that perspective - Streisand Effect.
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Which of course would lead one to conclude that such vehement defense of a individual's strict definition of the Streisand Effect is a fine example of the "Almost dumb enough to be a lawyer" effect.
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I wouldn't have heard about this award if they hadn't tried to censor it. I seriously doubt I'm the only one. Hence Streisand Effect.
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Agreed. I'm the same. Therefore Streisand Effect.
Re:Quick (Score:5, Insightful)
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They're in a legal dispute with Dish over this. Don't you think it would have been a bit damning to their case for Dish to say in court "but you even gave us awards for how great and innovative of a product it is"?
Re:Quick (Score:5, Insightful)
It wouldn't be a bit damning to their case. CBS would simply have to tell the judge "CNet has editorial independence".
The current situation is far more damning.
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They're in a legal dispute with Dish over this. Don't you think it would have been a bit damning to their case for Dish to say in court "but you even gave us awards for how great and innovative of a product it is"?
Quite irrelevant, since the court isn't deciding if the product is "great and innovative". It's deciding if it's legal. It's easy to think of products that would be great to use, but are arguably illegal.
Re:Quick (Score:5, Insightful)
"Kind of like how some refuse to shop at Walmart, Chick Fill-A, or other companies because they don't like their corporate practices."
Dubious analogy: It would be more like a restaurant critic being ordered not to praise Chick Fil-A's food because Zagat doesn't approve of them.
The story here isn't that CBS dislikes the Dish Hopper; but that the alleged 'journalists' at Cnet have neither the editorial independence nor the integrity to act in the interests of their customers instead of their owners.
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Indeed. In a proper journalistic enterprise the editors would resign in protest.
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better to stay
You ever had a bos that considered you his enemy? Not disliked you, or enjoyed making your life hell, but considered you an enemy?
That is an untenible and professionally dangerous situation.
Bosses HATE being questioned or shown-up. They DISPISE being publically humiliated and being exposed as unethicle, and possibly a criminal. That's not the sort of thing they're likely to laugh about over drinks later.
Being a boss is about being in control. If they loose that, they've been gelded [google.com] as a boss.
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You ever had a bos that considered you his enemy? Not disliked you, or enjoyed making your life hell, but considered you an enemy?
Yes, and I didn't walk out at the first sign on enmity. I told him it was all ok, and I found a better job while still collecting a paycheck. Walking out usually hurts the person walking out worst.
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At least one did exactly that [twitter.com]. It didn't stop them from pursuing the approach they did.
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Screw c|net (Score:5, Insightful)
The company had zero integrity before the Dish scandal happened. Why would anyone work with them in the first place? Weren't their scammy download site and payola-based game review sites damning enough already?
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Feather that broke the camel's back.
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Adnix, Sagan Contact.
That is all.
Re:Screw c|net (Score:5, Interesting)
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Kinda like slashdot?
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Re:Screw c|net (Score:5, Insightful)
Insightful point. Even on slashdot it's becomming harder and harder to find news for nerds that you might have missed elsewhere. I've always expected a few "infomercials" here, but recently it has become more and more blantent. And the war against anon posters here is totatally ridiculous. You can't speak free if you are worrying about having a job.
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Most of the posts from Anonymous Cowards are crap. All you need to get a Slashdot account is a throwaway email address. Logging in lets people keep track of your reputation. It's annoying to have to slog through AC comments for the gems. Surely, under one of these squishy treats...
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You should add a squishy treats reference to your sig.
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You should add a squishy treats reference to your sig.
I shall try to remember to keep it in consideration for the next time I feel like it needs a change. It really is one of the great moments in literature, but then, so is this.
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You're telling me? I almost went to work for them in 2002... Fortunately they DotBombed (got eaten up by ZDNet and what was to be my position 'put on hold pending restructuring' 2 days before I was supposed to start), and my career path took a more circuitous route.
Still... It was a very near thing. *shudder*
Re:Screw c|net (Score:4, Funny)
Good thing you instead chose to take that job at G4!
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I'm pretty sure that Cnet doesn't enjoy the feelings of vague nostalgia that a lot of the other bubble-era companies do...
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Do lay-users even consider these folks relevant any more?
Not to burst the Slashdot bubble, but yes, they are still very relevant to the "lay-user".
- Top 5 HDTV
- Top 5 Tablet
- Top 5 Smartphone
etc.
Trying I'm feeling lucky on any of those. The average layer-user isn't going to spend hours scouring technical forums for detailed knowledge. They'll take the top site Google recommends and provide a decent summary in a 1-2 pages, and possibly look at Amazon for user reviews.
I don't agree with the crap their overlords pulled, but give credit where credit is du
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Problem is, can you trust those reviews, especially now knowing that they don't have editorial independence?
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Certainly, you can trust their reviews, if you have a brain in your head. A review about a product owned by CBS that they gush over is ovbiously suspicious. But really, the whole hopper thing is just because of a fued between Dish and the major networks. The overwhelming majority of CNETs reviews, being things like routers, printers, and TVs, are going to be unaffected. But its also good to remember that reviews sites are rarely totally unbiased (showing my age, but i remember PCGamer when they were still "
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Do lay-users even consider these folks relevant any more?
CNET is one of the pre-eminent tech reporting sites, with a huge readership. If you have a tech company then your PR firm will work hard to get you on CNET because your product will get in front of a lot of eyeballs.
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I have VERY rarely gone to the web site, but I think they produce a lot informative and entertaining video podcasts.. That I get for free and effectively no advertisement. (They used to do basically an ad for their other podcasts, and it was long enough to be annoying, but less than 30 seconds so a pain to FF through.) CNET Update and CNET News cover lots of areas, the "first look" ones cover products, and maybe they're paid to review certain products? I don't know, but it's one way I get an overview of
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But CNET seems to be something easily gamed by products and companies, or perhaps that their reviewers are just automatically largely positive--maybe to get the products to review? Their reviews also seem very shallow.
In particular it conce
Good for CES... (Score:1)
Nice to see...
Product awards from a commercial site compromised? (Score:1)
Wow, this is shocking. And I'm still reeling from the news about the Tour de France, I haven't decided what to do with my chest full of Lance Armstrong memorabilia.
Re:Product awards from a commercial site compromis (Score:4, Interesting)
I know this is way off topic and I will try and bring it back on in the end... No promises though...lol
It always amuses me the kerfuffle raised when sports athletes get caught using performance enhancing drugs yet people don't say shit about beauty pageant contestants who have had cosmetic surgery just to win those titles.
It all comes down to "follow the money". It is the same with this C/Net / CBS / Dish story. Follow the money. To CBS Dish is cutting off a revenue stream it sees as essential. Dish is seen by them as cheating the system just as much as Lance did. Dish OTOH doesn't see ads as essential since their service is subscription based. So much like Lance, they don't think they did anything wrong.
How's that for trying to bring it back?
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It works the same in every area of life. You get what you incentivize not what you profess to believe or support.
It is why people cheat in college classes. Many are memory based classes and are designed to encourage cheating regardless of what the professors claim to support.
Anywhere in society you see behavior other than what you want or think the system should have it is because you are giving an incentive for that behavior and no amount of rule changing is going to fix that.
That is why we have can harsh
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Do what Lance Armstrong did with his chest full of "Lance Armstrong memorabilia": Go out and win the Tour de France.
Good (Score:5, Funny)
How do you like them apples, CBS?
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So true. Didn't CBS legal consider that by doing this they would be harming one of there own properties?
Scorpion and the frog I guess.
This happens everywhere on all levels (Score:5, Insightful)
Business relationships color the news for all outlets; even NPR and PBS now have "sponsors." About 10 years ago I was watching I think CNBC when RFK Jr. started talking about poor environmental practices of GE, the parent company. The hosts actually shushed him and they immediately cut to commercial. When they came back, RFK Jr. was gone...
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Business relationships color the news for all outlets; even NPR and PBS now have "sponsors."
The local paper beagn to run a series of articles giving advice on how to negotiate the purchase of new and used cars. After the first installment ran, the local car dealers called the paper and threatened to withdraw all their advertising. No more articles about how to negotiate buying a car.
Happens all the time, but mostly out of the public eye because those corporate guys know what kind of asshats it makes them look like.
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Hi!
I must be honest, the only reason I'm posting a reply is that I can't believe I'm seeing a Dogbert reference in someone's sig on Slashdot - wow, I am pleased! Yes, this is off-topic, and yes, they can Mod me down all they like, but that couldn't possibly compare with knowing there's a fellow reader of the Federation's rag on here! Hi from the GMP area! (adds Friend...)
ps Mods, give me a break. Posted with no Karma Bonus, and this is a very specialised, very rare, meeting of minds happening here, complete
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Oh damn. Dogbert is also a regular character, in a cartoon sketch, in the Police Federation magazine (UK)! I honestly thought he was only Dogbert until you posted that...
Yes, Dogbert is a plod in the cartoon. It's meant to be a tongue-in-cheek look at day-to-day police work. The quote above is definitely something he'd say!
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I'm agreeing that it could well be from Dilbert (which I don't remember seeing, or it being that interesting if I did see it in passing), it's just that I was under the impression that Dogbert, the irreverant cartoon voice of the Police Federation's magazine, was the only Dogbert, and since the quote would definitely be something he'd say (regarding the relevant topic - policing the UK) I just assumed it WAS our Dogbert...
Please see my other note about how silly it was of me to ASS U ME, we can all learn fr
WebmistressRachel... (Score:2)
...spends ages writing a reply, making lots of assumptions based on a sig... clicks submit... goes to read "slashdot.org/~hduff" page, facepalm!
No reference whatsoever to the line of work referred toby me (and the sig), no topics or posts related to it, just a good quote in the sig, from the Police Federation's (UK) magazine for members of the Fed. Yep, a it's a union for frontline (below Inspecter rank) Police officers.
Boy, did I get the wrong end of the, er, baton... (winds neck back in, reminds herself w
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Please tell me what devilish mixture of banned substances you injected in your veins before you set out to write these last two posts.
Mods, I dare you to read the parent post without your heads exploding.
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Good times!
/Yeah, this got a chuckle from me... schadenfreude is the schönste freude!
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Wow, this is actually amazing, and it would be all my fault for jumping the er... baton on this one.
Only one slight correction, and an observation of a further potential consequence.
The Police Federation is a Union for officers of below Inspector rank ("rank and file") serving in UK Police Forces. The rag is a somewhat left-leaning, introspective commentary on life in the job, and how wider changes (only observable from the unique point of view of a rank-and-file constable) have a huge impact on the Common
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Happens all the time, but mostly out of the public eye because those corporate guys know what kind of asshats it makes them look like.
This is the kind of stuff I think about when people complain about adblock. Well, that and this [slashdot.org].
hopper? (Score:1)
What is a dish's hopper?
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A multi-channel DVR with a commercial skip feature. I'm guessing the latter would be the part CBS hates so much.
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I'm with you there. I don't object to the feature, I'm just guessing that CBS does.
CES Ditches CNET After CBS Scandal Over Dish (Score:5, Funny)
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.
In English, please!! (Score:3)
I read the title 5 times and still have no fucking idea what it's about.
Re:In English, please!! (Score:4, Informative)
In a nutshell, CNET liked the Dish Networks DVR (digital video recorder) and publicly said so.
CBS (Used to stand for Columbia Broadcasting System) is suing Dish.
CBS owns CNET, and said, you can't say nice things about someone we're suing!
So now CES (Consumer Electronics Show) says CNET can no longer have input to decide the winner of the "Best of Show" award because they have a clear (mandated from their parent company) bias.
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CBS owns CNET, and said, you can't say nice things about someone we're suing!
And CBS released a statement saying 'CNET maintains 100% editorial independence, and always will'
BUT
that's 'in terms of covering actual news,', i.e. only when we say they can.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/14/3874682/exclusive-cbs-forced-cnet-editors-to-recast-vote-after-hopper-win [theverge.com]
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Yeah. I noticed that too.
Dirty little disclaimers like that are proof of who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
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CBS (Used to stand for Columbia Broadcasting System)
Now known as the CBS section of the US Department Of Propaganda, a new cabinet-level department created by Mr Obama...
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Thank you all for the explanations but the Slashdot editors could easily have done a better job.
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The Consumer Electronics Show has ended their relationship with the review site c|net as a result of said site's elimination of a new product from award consideration. The product was removed from consideration on orders from c|net's corporate overlords at CBS (one of the "Big 3" American broadcasting corporations) either because CBS is currently involved in litigation over said product or, for the more cynical/realistic, because said product threatens CBS's bottom lime.
To summarize the explanation of the
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"While Dan Rather attempts to rationalize the network's heartless decision to air this despicable 'terrorist propaganda video,' it is beyond our comprehension that any mother, wife, father or sister should have to relive this horrific tragedy and watch their loved one being repeatedly terrorized," the family said.
"Terrorists have made this video confident that the American media would broadcast it and thereby serve their exact purpose [wikipedia.org]. By showing this video, CBS or any other broadcaster willing to show i
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I totally respected you until the "teleprompter" reference. The teleprompter screaming is totally asinine.
Bush couldn't even use a teleprompter. He READ his speeches out of a 3 ring binder. Go look one up!
There is tons criticize Obama for that aren't imagined or silly. You can do better.
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Your side lost. get over it.
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I need sleep (Score:2, Funny)
I need sleep because it looked like "The CIA surrounded CES since seeing CNET on CBS and served seven scientific sequestrations so somebody sensing a sacking stalls statistical scribes."
CNet (Score:1)
Hopper is kind of a joke (Score:2)
The Dish Hopper is somewhat of a joke, It is a way to convert satellite broadcast into streaming - you see, it isn't a DVR at all but a device that requests something be saved for you at Dish Network HQ. Then, later you can have it streamed to you over the Internet. They claim the device is limited to 2000 hours, but this would appear to be an entirely arbitrary number. Since your "saved" content is likely shared with everyone else, why would there be any limit at all?
Do you really think that they are s
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