Bloomberg News prides itself on straightforward financially and technologically angled stories and I had high expectations for their coverage of Apple’s big product unveiling. Unfortunately, those went undelivered despite the informative, eye-catching headline—“Apple Unveils Watch, Bigger-Screen iPhones in Product Blitz.”
California based reporters Tim Higgins and Adam Satariano cover Apple for Bloomberg and I was less than impressed with the one sided coverage of the unveiling. Instead of talking to consumers, Higgins and Satariano relayed Apple COO Tim Cook’s glowing praise for the three new products at face value. Additionally, the pair wrote articles about Cook’s reign at Apple and the significance of the product’s for his career as well as an article about the effects of the release on Apple’s stock. Both of these angles are consistent with Bloomberg’s values, but would be of little importance to average consumers.
Diverse Sources Would Connect to Consumers
As a potential consumer, I have little interest in what Cook and the four other Apple employees the journalists used as sources have to say about his product. Instead, I’d prefer to know what normal people think. Does the product have easy access? Is the iPhone 6 Plus bulky? Are you planning on purchasing a new iPhone and why? These are a few of the questions I’d love to have seen Higgins and Satariano ask to create a well rounded story.
Because of this, the angle of the story is pretty standard. Higgins and Satariano go through the three new features Apple unveiled—the iPhone6, the iPhone6Plus and the iWatch—but don’t take a critical or interesting stance. If you just want a rundown of what the new products feature, Bloomberg has you covered. While information about Steve Jobs’ death was included and how the company has fared in the three years since his passing—the story could have been far more focused on who will be buying these products.
Despite One Sided Coverage, Hyperlinks and Suggested Content Create Ease of Access
Bloomberg did an excellent job hyperlinking to other relevant material and providing other stories of interest on the side. Additionally, the photo gallery of the different products was informative, whereas the video coverage simply repeated what Satariano and Higgins had written. Even on the mobile site readers were given ways to access more content and media through suggested articles, extra photos and hyperlinks.
Engagement of Audience Through Live Tweeting and Comments
Readers were given the opportunity to engage in the comments section, as well as by sharing the story, and many had opinions about the new products that were more interesting than the story. This reinforces my point that Satariano and Higgins could have chosen a more interesting angle by looking at a consumer perspective. Both Higgins and Satariano live tweeted the unveiling and got some feedback and engagement from followers, but other than that the story was not really dominant on Bloomberg’s social media presence. In fact, the story wasn’t even on the front page of their website.