Sunday, June 07, 2009

Honor Among Thieves

For those that eat up tech gossip the way Hollywood sycophants eat up Perez Hilton, yesterday (June 6) you may have borne witness to, or gotten some after the fact transcription about, the very unexpected meltdown of one Leo Laporte on his program TWiT Live while hosting Michael Arrignton and The Gillmor Gang. The whole thing stems from a question Michael asked, followed by a couple of statements that many, including Leo, would interpret as an insinuation that Leo's integrity was for sale.

Now, while it seems that they have kissed and made up, for a few hours afterwards even Arrington was worried that his professional relationship with Leo was down the crap shoot.

My take on this whole thing is that Leo had every reason to react the way he did. I'm not here touting his years of experience and whether or not that puts him above scrutiny, because frankly no one should ever be raised to that level. However, it's one thing when Jon Newbie walks up and asks such a question or makes that insinuation. It's a completely different thing when Michael, a respected personality, does it.

There needs to be mutual respect in the industry, or at the very least amongst the (self crowned) industry and thought leaders. Michael should have known better than to, in essence, call Leo out in such a manner. It's not that Leo is above quesiton, it's that he should be above Arrington's question, and that's needed to avoid these kinds of uncomfortable situations where both parties are now feeling a little slighted and being forced to mend fences in public.

So I'm glad the whole thing is coming to an amicable end, but notwithstanding, the whole thing should never have come up, and Arrington should have known better.