Tech Blogger Banned in Las Vegas

A blogger for Gizmodo, a part of Gawker Media, has been banned from the Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest annual event in the tech industry, after he walked around the floor of the show turning off flat-screen monitors with a remote device.

"The Gizmodo staffer interfered with the exhibitor booth operations of numerous companies, including disrupting at least one press event," the C.E.S. said in a statement. "The Gizmodo staffer violated the terms of C.E.S. media credentials and caused harm to C.E.S. exhibitors. This Gizmodo staffer has been identified and will be barred from attending any future C.E.S. events. Additional sanctions against Gizmodo and Gawker are being reviewed."

After receiving a TV-B-Gone remote control, the blogger, Richard Blakeley, apparently decided to roam around the convention switching off entire walls of flat screen monitors in the middle of product demos. Impressed with his staffer's handiwork, Gizmodo editor Brian Lam then decided to brag about it.

"We pretty much couldn't help ourselves," Lam wrote on Gizmodo. "We shut off a TV. And then another. And then a wall of TV's. And we just couldn't stop."

Many prominent tech bloggers quickly condemned the stunt as a black eye for the entire tech blogging community.

Writing on CrunchGear, former Gizmodo editor John Biggs wrote, "Unless bloggers are ready to act their age and use their skills, energy, and position to help consumers and not piss off PR folks, they're...sunk."

"Each stunt like this pushes us back a notch," Biggs added.

Writing on Cnet's Crave blog, Rafe Needleman wrote, "This prank will not endear the blogging class to either the C.E.A., which produces C.E.S., or the companies that paid dearly for the right to occupy C.E.S. floorspace and show off their products."

Judie Lipsett wrote on Gear Diary, "This was not just a stupid high school prank that had been perpetrated on a faceless victim. This was sabotage that had been done to companies with massive financial investments in their C.E.S. appearances."

Gawker Media boss Nick Denton justified Blakeley's behavior by pointing to a Gizmodo post that listed the reasons why C.E.S. is "a disgusting, bloated beast oozing everything that makes this industry horrible."

If that's the case, why send his bloggers to the event at all?

Indeed, far from criticizing his blogger's behavior, Denton praised it, portraying the action as a kind of courageous, stick-it-to-the-man act of Gonzo-style mischief. And Denton - always on the lookout for ways to attack his enemies - couldn't resist throwing in a dig at Cnet in the process.

"I'd rather the Gizmodo team ran into trouble now and then," Denton told Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka. "Better that than the bland compliance to consumer electronics press releases that makes sites like Cnet's so boring."

For Denton, apparently, little is off limits in his quest to drive page views at his blogs - which the stunt unquestionably did.

Of course, if all of Gizmodo - a gadget blog - ends up being banned from next year's C.E.S., the site would not have access to the largest gadget trade show in the world.

Gizmodo's posts on C.E.S. 2007 generated millions of page views for Gawker Media.

But despite his boss's support, Lam apparently had morning-after regrets, posting an update in which he said, "watching this video, we realize it probably made some people's jobs harder, and I don't agree with that (Especially Motorola). We're sorry."

by Sam Gustin