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CNET Networks is to technology information what Microsoft is to software. The site, recognized as 2001's "Best Online Publication" by Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism,
provides a one-stop source for all things technology related, whether you're setting up home-based email or an enterprise-wide computer network. The company, with sites in 25
countries and 18 languages, reaches more than 60 million people monthly. CNET Networks is so vast that it practically requires a "dummies" manual just to understand its expanse.
The company has gobbled up tech publishers ZDNet and Computer Shopper and offers an entire suite of Web-based technology services. To simplify, there are three main channels:
technology reviews, breaking news (found at the enviable Web address news.com,) and radio and cable TV.
Content/Contacts
With 100+ original articles posted each week, CNET writers crank out more copy than Time or Newsweek. Reviews of everything from digital cameras to digital subscriber lines
are popular, especially since most tech shoppers research virtually but buy offline.Reviews Editor-in-Chief Steve Fox describes his editorial mission saying, "People want an
objective voice on technology with no vested interest in a product. That's us."
News.com editor Jay Sing covers breaking news and anything that involves binary code, or the fundamental language of technology. "We're about telecommunications...consumer
electronics, entertainment," he says.
Producer Candy Meyers does CNET Radio (17 hours/day in the Bay Area) plus a weekly CNBC show, "News.com." She archives tech-related news/commentary on the Web for access
anytime. "The beauty of [a video] interview is that we put the audio on radio, archive it on the news.com site, and run it on CNBC," she says.
Pitch Tips
PR people should be more "teckie" than sales-oriented when going after editorial staff, who prefer pitches via email but also field phone calls. Fox says you'll succeed by
spinning not only your client, but also proving yourself as a worthy source. CNET reporters cultivate lasting relationships with publicists who know the nuts and bolts of the
products they pitch. Also, reporters will hang up on you faster than a crashing computer if they sense a group sell. "I got an email once that said 'Dear' and was followed by a
blank," says Sing. "I delete that stuff."
Since the Internet has made news a 24-hour occurrence, most writers at CNET are on a near-perpetual deadline, so keep pitches fast and focused.
CNET's beat list is far too long to include here, so head to http://www.cnet.com/aboutcnet/0-13615-7-
309474.html
(the long URL is a safeguard against reporter-snatching recruiters.)
Comments
CNET's various departments have their idiosyncrasies that publicists would be wise to note in their d-bases. For example, Fox's staff is willing to sign non-disclosure
agreements to avoid being scooped, Sing's will not. Also, to maintain a strict code of objectivity reporters are barely allowed to accept so much as a latte from Starbuck's on a
publicist's dime. That being said, CNET editors like thinking "outside the box." For example, when Meyers noticed an increased number of moving companies clearing dotcoms out of
downtown San Francisco, she assigned coverage of it.
In the Pipeline
To cultivate inter-departmental synergy, CNET will soon bring all news gatherers--be they online or on the air--under the same roof. The company is slated to open a new
downtown San Francisco headquarters this fall. Also, starting July 31, CNET's radio show will expand to 24 hours, with plans to expand into satellite radio by the end of the year.
Look for a team of CNET editors to judge technology products at this summer's PC Expo in New York.