Eye of the Needle by David Needle (bio) Insights from Silicon Valley and beyond

Embargoes — can’t live with them, can’t live without them. That was one of several themes running through a spirited discussion among tech journalists and PR people last night.

For the uninitiated, embargoes are the controversial process where a tech company, usually its PR firm, offers to give advance details on a news story in exchange for the reporter agreeing not to publish the story until the exact release date and time dictated by the vendor.

The event, titled: "Embargo 2010: An Industry Discussion on Future Rules of Media Engagement," was held in downtown San Francisco at the Varnish gallery and wine bar and hosted by Waggener Edstrom, one of the longtime biggies in tech PR that counts Microsoft among its key clients.

The kickoff was a panel moderated by former tech reporter Sam Whitmore that included editors from the New York Times (Damon Darlin), Wired.com (Dylan Tweney), Mark Glaser, MediaShift (PBS) and the tech blog Silicon Valley Watcher (Tom Foremski).

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