FORTUNE — The notion that “disclosure” solves all the problems associated with the business conflicts of some tech journalists–something former TechCrunch editor Michael Arrington relied on to excuse his investments in some of the companies he covered—has perhaps reached its inevitable level of absurdity.
At the bottom of a TechCrunch item about Best Buy (BBY) offering discounts on Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry Playbook tablet computer, writer Chris Velazco offers this gem: “Disclosure: I am a former Best Buy employee, and still appear in Best Buy commercials.”
Arrington, meanwhile, is still sticking to his “disclosure” mantra on his new blog, the unfortunately named Uncrunched.
The idea that merely disclosing conflicts somehow renders those conflicts unimportant makes no sense. It’s better than conflicts with no disclosure, but the conflicts are still there, and they still basically tell readers: this blog post or news story is tainted; its writer has interests other than you.
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