San Francisco here I come

It's approaching two years since I left San Francisco, and this Saturday I'll again set foot on Northern California soil. Together with one of my AFR colleagues, I'll be attending the AlwaysOn Innovation Summit, and will be interviewing a number of really cool IT types while I'm there (I'll keep that info under wraps for now...).

The best thing is that we are AFR-funded and completely free of vendor sponsorship. It's something of a novelty in the junket-ridden Australian IT media business, and I can tell you it's a great feeling.

So if you're in the Bay Area between July 16 and 29, lemme know. I'm hoping to catch up with as many old friends as possible. And while we're at it, let's do an experiment in collaborative journalism - if you're not going to AlwaysOn and have got burning questions for some of the people listed as attending, write it up in the comments below. No promises to deliver every question, but I'll try.

Comments

[Kevin]

grrrrrrr!

[IT editor]

Jonesy.

Love your work at the AFR.

But two points on your last posting:

1. how did you and one of your colleagues score a trip at the AFR's expense when FXJ is slashing $100m off its bottom line and
2. "the junket-ridden Australian IT media business"? Interesting phrase. Most titles I'm aware of post disclosures when running reports from vendor trips and certainly the reptiles I've encountered are diligent about reporting with integrity and professionalism regardless of who is footing the bill.

[Mark Aufflick]

Nice one - enjoy your trip! Drop in to the Apple store while you're there for me :)

[Mark Aufflick]

Oh, and pick up some Ghiradelli chocolates while you're in San Fran as well - Kath tells me they're the bomb.

[Mark Jones]

Hello Mr IT Editor (and your name is..?)
Fairfax has been reported to be cutting costs, but that's separate from Fairfax Business Media. As reported by Neil Shoebridge, FBM is from my understanding not subject to those measures. Beyond that, there is a business plan at work here.. and that's all I'll say!
And as for my creative license, a junket is still a junket regardless of whether you admit to it or not. To my knowledge, Fairfax and IDG Communications are the only two Australian publishers with no junkets policies. I've personally done research on the subject, and I know that readers have more respect for publications that pay their own way. My comment & opinions are directed at media company policies, not individual journalists.