Tech writer: Why I was sacked
By Sandhya

The IDG media house consists of such credible names like Computerworld, IT World, Java World, Mac User, PC World, GamePro and InfoWorld.  Its magazines and websites command huge global audiences.  An IDG publication InfoWorld has been embarrassed after one of its columnists was caught using a different name to present himself as the CTO of a tech firm.

InfoWorld is based in Silicon Valley and describes itself as the ‘Web destination of choice for IT decision makers seeking to modernize their operations using the latest technologies, architectures, and strategies. A core group of thought leaders, many of whom work in IT, produce InfoWorld's special mix of analysis, opinion, and product reviews to help IT professionals optimize resources, build agile infrastructures, and improve their work lives.’.

On Feb 22, I had written about how InfoWorld has sacked one of its star contributors Randall C. Kennedy who was also masquerading as Craig Barth, CTO of Devil Mountain Software and giving interviews to journalists in IDG and other media groups. On one hand, Randal Kennedy was writing for IDG and in the same breath he was masquerading as Craig Barth to give quotes and opinions to its sister publications in the IDG group.  Devil Mountain Software had listed a number of blue chip companies as clients when in fact there was no such relationship. And because ‘Craig Barth’ was being quoted by the highly respected IDG Group, his views were picked up by international tech media like Slashdot and Arstechnica. This helped Randall’s own company Devil Mountain Software.

What makes this impersonation even harder to understand is the fact that Randall C Kennedy is an accomplished techie who earned more than a million dollars from legitimate work with blue chip companies like Intel. In his early years, he even worked with IBM.

Randall has now blogged his version of what happened at InfoWorld leading up to his sacking. Apparently, some people at InfoWorld turned a blind eye to Randall’s duplicity because he was very popular with their readers

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Wooed by the Dark Side

Late 2007 is a time period pivotal to this story because it signaled a series of beginnings. It was when I first started thinking about blogging for InfoWorld. And it was also when I first approached the publication about partnering with DMS on the promotion of an online service, one built around the still evolving precursor to what would ultimately become the exo.performance.network.

And at first, neither venture went very well. Newly promoted Editor in Chief Eric Knorr, who I had never met and had barely heard of prior to his ascension, was resistant to the idea. He didn’t think it would fit with their still undefined editorial focus (InfoWorld had only recently decided to drop print and go online only). Meanwhile, the blog became tedious to maintain, especially since I wasn’t being paid for the work.

But eventually, things changed. Eric settled in as Editor in Chief, and a new Executive Editor, Galen Gruman, emerged to forever change my life. For starters, Galen took a liking to the xpnet.com idea. He began championing the idea internally, working with me to refine the messaging and coordinate with the various sales and marketing groups to achieve buy-in. At the same time, Galen took it upon himself to become the primary editor of my now paid blogging gig. He helped me to identify which topic areas were having the most impact – and thus started me on my descent into internet “Shock Jock” hell.

You see, what Galen and I discovered was that the topics that were most effective in drawing readers were also those that skirted the edges of both legitimacy and taste. For example, if I wrote an entry detailing some deeply held belief about a particular IT vendor or technology, nobody paid any attention. However, if I simply vented about something that was bugging me – a mysterious crash in Vista or some piece of VDI “marchitecture” coming out of VMware – the attention level shot through the roof.

Eventually, I found myself enjoying the buzz that my “angry missives” would generate. Little did I realize how quickly such a model could deteriorate or how much it could damage me, personally, once it fell apart.

A Slippery Slope

As the missives kept coming, and the traffic numbers kept climbing, Galen and I – along with Eric Knorr – worked to evolve the persona of “Randall C. Kennedy.” I was now to be the lightning rod of the publication, the guy who puts the most provocative spin possible on every story with the intention of aggravating as many zealots as possible. The net result was gobs of page views – I was the single biggest draw, site wide, for all of 2009 – and also a great deal of  scorn from my contemporaries.

…..
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Read the full article to understand the cozy relationships between some media professionals and tech companies.

(Techgoss had published the following story on Feb 22, 2010)

Technology writer exposed as fraud
By Sandhya

The IDG media house consists of such credible names like Computerworld, IT World, Java World, Mac User, PC World, GamePro and InfoWorld.  Its magazines and websites command huge global audiences.  An IDG publication InfoWorld has been embarrassed after one of its columnists was caught using a different name to present himself as the CTO for a tech firm.

InfoWorld is based in Silicon Valley and describes itself as the ‘Web destination of choice for IT decision makers seeking to modernize their operations using the latest technologies, architectures, and strategies. A core group of thought leaders, many of whom work in IT, produce InfoWorld's special mix of analysis, opinion, and product reviews to help IT professionals optimize resources, build agile infrastructures, and improve their work lives.’.

InfoWorld has just publicly admitted that one of its star contributors Randall C. Kennedy was also masquerading as Craig Barth, CTO of Devil Mountain Software and giving interviews to other tech media in the same media group.  On one hand, Randal Kennedy was writing for IDG and in the same breath he was masquerading as Craig Barth to give quotes and opinions to its sister publications in the IDG group.  Devil Mountain Software had listed a number of blue chip companies as clients when in fact there was no such relationship. And because ‘Craig Barth’ was being quoted by the highly respected IDG Group, his views were picked up by international tech media like Slashdot and Arstechnica.

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An unfortunate ending

Due to a serious breach of trust, Randall C. Kennedy will no longer be writing for InfoWorld

On Friday, Feb. 19, we discovered that one of our contributors, Randall C. Kennedy, had been misrepresenting himself to other media organizations as Craig Barth, CTO of Devil Mountain Software (aka exo.performance.network), in interviews for a number of stories regarding Windows and other Microsoft software topics. Devil Mountain Software is a business Kennedy established that specializes in the analysis of Windows performance data. There is no Craig Barth, and Kennedy has stated that this fabrication was a misguided effort to separate himself (or more accurately, his InfoWorld blogger persona) from his Devil Mountain Software business.

Integrity and honesty are core to InfoWorld's mission of service to IT professionals, and we view Kennedy's actions as a serious breach of trust. As a result, he will no longer be a contributor to InfoWorld, and we have removed his blog from this site.

Over the past 10 years, Kennedy has contributed valuable information on Windows performance and other technical issues to InfoWorld and its readers -- insight and analysis we still believe to be accurate and reliable. Based on our discovery, however, we cannot continue our relationship with Kennedy. Questions about this matter may be directed to Kennedy at rck@xpnet.com. We apologize to our readers.

-- InfoWorld apology
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InfoWorld scrambled out an apology once its media rival Zdnet started doing an indepth investigation on the fraud that is Devil Mountain Software.

Some senior Microsoft executives would be particularly pleased today as Craig Barth of Devil Mountain Software was one its most vocal critics.