The Tech PR Debate: Proactive Media or Build Your Own Newsroom?

In Silicon Valley, some companies are disengaging completely from the media, opting instead to develop their own content hubs and speak directly to their audiences. 

The trend ignited when Electrek broke a story that Tesla had dissolved its PR department and no longer spoke with reporters. Then Coinbase published a blog post to preempt a negative New York Times story about the company’s treatment of Black employees. Coinbase’s post included the incendiary line, “we don’t care what The New York Times thinks.”

Recently, prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz launched its own media property and has gone all in on the “‘go direct”’ approach. Why are companies choosing not to engage with the press and going direct? Is it really so black and white as choosing between engaging with the media or publishing your own media? I spoke with my colleague, Inkhouse Senior Vice President Anne Baker, to unpack this. We cover why tech companies and the media are increasingly at odds with each other, the risk of not talking to the press, and what it could mean as more companies start building their own newsrooms.

Check out my discussion with Anne on where media and comms are going, here:

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