“With the rise of Linux came the inevitable rise of media
specifically covering Linux. Print magazines, online journals, and
more recently online broadcasts have littered the landscape,
attempting to provide coverage of the phenomenon. You need only
peruse the grab bag of Linux-related Web sites owned by
internet.com and VA/Andover.Net to realize how big Linux media has
become. But while Linux media has been popular and ever-present, it
has never been truly objective.”
“Since the beginning of Linux there was Linux advocacy. Linus
Torvalds himself could be considered the first true Linux advocate,
as he explained the reasons for the kernel’s monolithic design to
Andrew Tanenbaum in 1992. (Read the debate as compiled in the book
Open Sources.) This kind of advocacy finds itself at the root of
all Linux media, especially of the online variety.”
“You don’t have to look very far to see the evidence of this
subjectivity. Read through some of the reader-contributed
editorials on Linux.com, or some of the articles written on
Slashdot. It’s hard not to instantly pick up the bias, and frankly,
that’s just bad journalism. The truth is, we’re not trained
professional journalists; we’re primarily Linux advocates, and that
affects our point of view.