Click to Save up to $300/yr on callsZuckerberg SXSWi interviewer fans fire with Twitter post
Sarah Lacy's reply to those who criticized her for her interview of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at SXSWi was not entirely graceful.
(Credit: Twitter)AUSTIN, Texas--If journalist Sarah Lacy got some people riled up with the style of her keynote interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday, her Twitter response to criticism of her will not help calm things down.
As reported here and elsewhere earlier Sunday, Lacy interviewed Zuckerberg as the day's keynote at South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) and in the process, saw the audience of thousands turn against her for a series of stylistic faux-pas.
I won't rehash all the details here, since you can read up on that in my previous story.
But as pointed out later in the day by Wired News, Lacy followed up the controversy by adding her own thoughts in the form of a Twitter post. (Editors' note: Lacy also spoke on video after the Q&A with Omar L. Gallaga of the Austin American-Statesman.)
The text of her (very public) post? "Seriously screw all you guys. I did my best to ask a range of things."
To me and to many of the people I talked with after the keynote, the problem wasn't Lacy's questions. It was her style. Some have said that it was because she's a woman and attributed a tinge of sexism to the anger directed at her.
I don't buy that for a minute.
What I think happened was that she felt she should be part of the story--by making jokes about her upcoming book, by interrupting Zuckerberg and so on--and absolutely misread the audience. They simply weren't there to see her. They were there to see Zuckerberg. I think the response would have been the same if it had been any interviewer who took the focus away from Zuckerberg.
So for Lacy to respond in a way that indicates she thought that the anger was based on her questions just misses the point.
And it's too bad. I think she could extract herself from this if she understood why people were upset at her, but until she reaches that understanding, she's only going to make it worse by lashing out, especially on Twitter, a forum that is the currency of SXSWi.
See more stories in CNET News.com's coverage of SXSWi (click here).
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TalkBack
Am I a journalist?
reidwegs
Mar 10, 2008, 10:15 AM PDT
big deal
douglasdooley
Mar 10, 2008, 9:49 AM PDT
audience full of idiots
HlLLARY CLITON
Mar 10, 2008, 9:14 AM PDT
Forbes Interviewer
dascha1
Mar 10, 2008, 4:44 AM PDT
Sarah Lacy is dumb...
microsoft slayer
Mar 9, 2008, 11:17 PM PDT
Quite frankly...
justdenny
Mar 9, 2008, 10:25 PM PDT
What is Twitter?
coryschulz
Mar 9, 2008, 7:19 PM PDT
Who paid her?
jnewman
Mar 9, 2008, 6:51 PM PDT
Will there be video of this?
gomer43
Mar 9, 2008, 6:14 PM PDT
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