InfoWorld Columnist Fired After Creating Fake CTO

The chief technology officer of a software company is an ideal source to turn to for quotes and analysis when working on stories about software, Windows, and other related topics. However, it becomes a problem when the CTO doesn't exist and is actually a figment of the imagination of a columnist. That's the situation InfoWorld and Computerworld publisher IDG found itself in, as often-quoted Devil Mountain Software CTO Craig Barth was created by InfoWorld columnist Randall C. Kennedy, CNET reported. CNET sister publication ZDNet revealed the fictional character in a post by editor in chief Larry Dignan, Why we don't trust Devil Mountain Software (and neither should you), who said ZDNet found in an investigation that Barth's name only turned up on IDG-owned sites, and that Devil Mountain Software has been "a thorn in the side of Microsoft for years." InfoWorld editor in chief Eric Knorr said in a blog post: On Friday, Feb. 19, we discovered that one of our contributors, Randall C. Kennedy, had been misrepresenting himself to other media organizations as Craig Barth, CTO of Devil Mountain Software (aka exo.performance.network), in interviews for a number of stories regarding Windows and other Microsoft software topics. Devil Mountain Software is a business Kennedy established that specializes in the analysis of Windows performance data. There is no Craig Barth, and Kennedy has stated that this fabrication was a misguided effort to separate himself (or more accurately, his InfoWorld blogger persona) from his Devil Mountain Software business. Integrity and honesty are core to InfoWorld's mission of service to IT professionals, and we view Kennedy's actions as a serious breach of trust. As a result, he will no longer be a contributor to InfoWorld, and we have removed his blog from this site. Over the past 10 years, Kennedy has contributed valuable information on Windows performance and other technical issues to InfoWorld and its readers -- insight and analysis we still believe to be accurate and reliable. Based on our discovery, however, we cannot continue our relationship with Kennedy. Questions about this matter may be directed to Kennedy at rck@xpnet.com. We apologize to our readers. In an email to CNET, Kennedy called the creation of Barth a "little white lie" that was necessary to maintain his "shock jock" style of writing, and he claimed that InfoWorld executive editor Galen Gruman knew the truth: Shortly after Craig Barth's debut, I informed InfoWorld executive editor Galen Gruman of what had transpired. Galen and I had worked closely together on the launch of Windows Sentinel and, while he did not approve of my decision, he nevertheless made no attempt to alert IDG management or otherwise expose the ruse. And while I cannot confirm that Eric Knorr did or did not know of my "masquerade," I somehow doubt that he wasn't in the loop, since the entire sad affair didn't come to a head for nearly a year after it began.

Social Pro Daily

InfoWorld Columnist Fired After Creating Fake CTO

David Cohen

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

David Cohen