What the IT Media learned from the SCO case (or should have)

Just went to an interesting meeting for work. None of the work-specific material is here, but this is a general version of the same stuff. Patent numbers: If you use the word "patent" in a story, get the patent number and link to it. (try Google Patent Search if your company doesn't have a partner site deal with anyone else who offers patents online.) SCO was deliberately vague about its "intellectual property" and some reporters assumed that the company had patents affecting Linux. With all the patent resources now available online there's no excuse to fall for this one any more. Analysts: "Analyst" is about as specific a term as "blogger". There are good, honest analysts who disclose business relationships relevant to something they're commenting on, and others who follow a "flackalyst" business model. Also watch out for weasel words designed to mislead you about the business relationship between an analyst firm and a vendor. Just saying that a report is "non-commissioned" is not enough. The report could have been written on spec in the anticipation that a vendor will buy copies, or it could have been the one unpaid report about a vendor with which the analyst firm does much commissioned business. Astroturf organizations: The Association of American Publishers and the Association for Competitive Technology are two groups that advocate for, and apparently get most of their funding from, a few few large companies but that claim to represent diverse interests. Best to both run a search for, then ask, about supporters. (Yes, the university presses should get out of AAP, but this is about the IT Media.) Pointless payments: Sun bought a "license" from SCO even though it had supposedly already bought out its Unix license. What was it really buying? Have any Sun products actually used software obtained under the new "license" from SCO, and why haven't HP or any of the other Unix vendors had to buy similar "licenses"? Peer media: Everyone covering the SCO case uses Groklaw—look for this and future sites to do similar background research on future issues. Watch story comments for links to peer media sites, and link back to those sites whenever possible. Even if you got directly to a primary source without going through the peer media site, link in the peer media site's discussion, to help make the site's audience aware that you're covering the story.