Tech reporting is more negative now than in the past

I like to think that while I do certainly criticize technology products and technology companies for any failings -- Microsoft forcing Windows 10 on to customers against their will last year, for example -- I’m fair. I still get as excited about a new phone, or a new version of Windows, as I did in the past, and I don't deliberately look for negatives. The same is true for all other BetaNews writers.

However, a new study finds that tech reporting is generally more pessimistic now than in the past, and for two very different reasons.

The new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), and based on textual analysis of 250 articles from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post from 1986 to 2013, highlights how the tone of tech reporting has shifted in the past 20 years.

In general, the ITIF found that in the 1980s and 1990s, coverage of technology was largely positive, but this changed from the mid-1990s to 2013, when more negative reports covering the downside of technology, its failure to live up to its promises, and potential ill effects, started to appear.

The ITIF attributes this shift to two main causes, the first being that "there has been a significant increase in the number of civil-society organizations and attention-seeking scholars focused on painting a threatening picture of technology," and secondly, and perhaps most pertinently, "news organizations are under increased financial pressure, and as a result, reporters may have less time and fewer resources to dig deep into technology issues. In addition, since media outlets generate revenue from page views, they have an incentive to pursue alarmist stories that generate clicks."

Daniel Castro, ITIF’s vice president and the report’s co-author, says "The way the media portrays any given issue shapes public opinion about it, and that in turn shapes the course of policymaking. So, it is important to ensure that technology coverage airs diverse perspectives without giving any side more weight than is warranted. If technology reporting continues with the trend we’re seeing toward pessimistic -- and in some cases technophobic -- critiques, it will likely spur policymakers and the public to support even more unnecessary, unwarranted, or unwise policy interventions."

Photo credit: racorn / Shutterstock