Gizmodo’s bad journalism

March 17, 2006

Have you read the story about the guy’s MacBook Pro MagSafe connector burning up? Well, Gizmodo reported today: “MacBook Magnetic MagSafe Connector Not So Safe After All” which is a decent headline. So far, so good right? They then claimed Apple contacted Flickr and instructed them to remove the photos. This is just completely wrong. Apple contacted the guy (Rogier Mulder) whose MacBook Pro was damaged and asked him to remove the photos. Mulder agreed and complemented Apple on their support of the issue on the flickr post. And check this out:

Apple’s magnetic Mag”Safe” connector on its Intel-based MacBook must be inappropriately named. How safe is a connector that bursts into flames with no provocation?

That’s just plain inaccurate. Mulder said on his flickr post that his cats were around the MacBook Pro, so no one knows what actually happened. Gizmodo then links to an article entitled “Apple Censored Pics of Torched MacBook Power Connector“. How can you call voluntary removal of pictures censorship is beyond me, but that’s beside the point. What has Gizmodo turned into? Are they going to be the National Inquirer of the web? They’ve since corrected the mistatement about the Apple contacting Flickr but then they go on to say this:

Maybe Apple should change the name of this product to the FireBook. It’ll be interesting to see how the Cupertino company spins this one. Your move, Apple.

It doesn’t look like Apple is doing any spinning at all Gizmodo, you are.

Update: Flickr has responded to the false allegations.