(Update: Here's Sara's video response.As a Woman? Are you serious? Please don't play that card if you want to be taken seriously. SXSW will get high profile speakers who want to speak to a highly educated crowd. They didn't attack Dan Rather last year. Get over yourself. "...as a journalist...." I'm sorry but you completely lost any remaining sympathy had for you on the gender angle. Just take your criticism like a real journalist and don't say "screw you guys." That isn't professional.)
The Zuckerberg keynote was discussed by a number of people, including TechCrunch, CNet, and even Valleywag. I mainly got photos. I thought the interviewer really did a poor job. Some say it was because she was a woman. I think it's because she was a Business Week writer thrown into a tech conference and to be honest, she's writing a book about the guy. She was a bit...too informal. Look at the photos. I was as close up with the pros, and I'll say right now that the PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS who where there with me were just as appalled by the interviewer's lack of tact and poor questions that they were as pissed as the "unwashed twittering masses" of the crowd. I had a guy next to me who came all the way from Ireland to cover this thing and he was appalled by the lack of substance in Lacy.
Anyway, Michael Arrington has been piling onto Robert Scoble for his twittering opinion that she did a really poor job. You know what? Scoble twittered about it maybe ONCE or TWICE, and HE WAS RIGHT.
If Sara Lacy is a real pro, she would have not have gone into her interview so unprepared as to what her audience was. She would have not tried to plug her book about Zuckerberg multiple times. She would have not made him look bad, she would have brought out a better side of her subject.
In fact, I actually ran into the guy (Zuckerberg) a bit later and we talked one on one about some privacy concerns and Washington issues, and you know what? He changed my mind about alot of things. First off, he's barely younger than I am, and face-to-face this comes across. I can't imagine having all the attention, and the annoying people wanting to get their picture taken with you while you're trying to walk down the hall with your friends.
So, Lacy did nothing good today. She made her subject look bad (when in actuality I was quote impressed with him later on, more than I thought I would be) and she reacted poorly to criticism, as if her audience is wrong and she's right because she's "a professional." You know what? Calling your audience a "mob" is downright unprofessional, especially when you're speaking to a room of educated people who know your subject and wanted a real discussion on real issues. People don't come to SXSW for fluff, but that's what this "interview" was right from the start. I only got as many good photos as I did because the professional photogs stopped taking pictures when it became apparent how much fluff and crap was being tossed about. On the other hand, they broke a key rule, according to NBC News and all around great guy Jim Long who enlightened me to a rule of the White House Press Corps: when the President enters the room, gets on the plane, whatever, the cameras are on him and rolling/snapping until he leaves the room. No exceptions. I tried to do that. You know what? It's hard work. I have alot of respect for people like Jim and the pros who I was lucky enough to be around because it's tough. I'm exhausted.
Back to Arrington and Scoble. Arrington thinks Robert added to the problem. I think he (Robert) simply expressed the sentiments of the highly educated and knowledgeable crowd from an educated perspective (he did go to J-school, you know).
Oh, yeah. Has Arrington ever seen some of the White House Press Corps? I'm sure Jim Long or ANY DC person would agree that if Zuckerberg had been interviewed by a real journalist who was trying to get answers instead of sell us her book or make nice with the rich kid, we would have had a very good keynote, and Mark would have been much more comfortable answering REAL QUESTIONS, as he was when I spoke to him briefly later. I'm serious. The guy seemed glad that someone was asking a tough, detailed question and he could explain and talk like a real person without all the eyeballs and the lights. I've really changed my mind on the guy.
And to Arrington and all of those who think that we should lay off Lacy, you're wrong. She didn't do her job. Bottom line, end of story.
You have a problem? Comment, twitter, or email or call. I'm easy to get ahold of.
By the way, I have been trying to shoot as many photos as possible and get them up on Flickr for people to see what I've been watching. I don't do video for a few reasons, which I can get to another time. Point is, I know I promised something better than I am delivering, and there are a few reasons for that.
We're only two people, and only one of us is here in Austin. That one of us has to haul around a laptop, camera and two lenses from a hotel room a cab ride away, and you know what? It hurts after a while. I've called it an early night because it hurts to stand up straight at some points. That's not an excuse though. We will do better, or there will be major changes in how we work. I promise.
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