Wednesday, November 18, 2015

"10 Start-Ups To Watch" but why C&EN?

I usually don't write posts on debatable topics, but this article and a following Reddit AMA caught my attention. Before I write anything, I should mention that I am in no way related to anyone involved in the article or any of the people in those companies. I have also never interacted with any person involved so I am at a pretty safe position to write what I think.

While I understand C&EN is a Chemical and Engineering News agency/organization; I don't understand why these 10 companies were selected and they were (obviously) promoted. C&EN is free to do anything they want, but if I ran an organization like that I wouldn't highlight these companies the way it was done (especially I wouldn't do a Reddit AMA to endorse them even further). I had seen similar articles in several other science magazines or blogs where someone (usually who knows the author), picks up a company/paper and writes a "post"; but this is the first time I noticed it in C&EN. Most of these yield to more public attention and the author/owner somehow benefits from it. I have my own values, while I understand science needs to be promoted especially to get funding, I will never let my own research to be covered by ANY news agency as long as I have the power to do so. I can write my own article, and if someone wants it, go ahead and paste the whole thing. Good luck with that. 

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