Old Media Fail

Old media reporting on Toys ‘R’ Us buyout of eToys: FAIL.

I’ve been known to defend “old” media. Bloggers seem to think they can replace the old school media, but I disagree. How many blogger are on the ground in Iraq? Oh yeah, they’re just sitting behind their computers commenting on what the old media is reporting over there.

But I have to say the old media’s initial response to Toys ‘R’ Us’ buyout of some of The Parent Firm’s assets, counting eToys.com, is a classic fail.

The wire services got a press release from Toys ‘R’ Us regarding the buyout. The wire services and AP then summarized the press release and added some toy data ahead of syndicating their articles. Each article I’ve read say “terms of the deal were not disclosed”.

Well, if these reporters had perhaps Googled “Toys R Us eToys”, they would have found Reglike’s article regarding the purchase (it was on the first page at the time). That article linked to the other article regarding the purchase price being $2.15M.

Or, since this was a bankruptcy purchase, they could have just looked up the bankruptcy documents. In case that’s too much work, here’s the final asset purchase agreement (pdf).

Perhaps the “terms weren’t disclosed” by Toys ‘R’ Us, but regarding 10 minutes of searching would have given the old media the answer.