Hey Folks, We Screwed Up
Earlier this week, PetaPixel made an egregious mistake: we unintentionally showed an embargoed Sony product in a video review of a separate product. We then accidentally published the video review for that embargoed product hours before the embargo lifted. Neither was intentional or done with malice. That said, we know it harms our peers, so we want to explain what happened.
For those who may not have seen, the Sony FX2 was used to produce a separate product video. While we took steps to obscure the camera and mistakenly believed we did not compromise the embargo, it could still be determined that it was an unreleased product. It was a mistake, and we expect better of ourselves and will do better.
To make matters worse, PetaPixel accidentally published the review of the FX2 hours ahead of embargo. This separate error involves everyone’s favorite scheduling friend: time zones. PetaPixel as a publication uses a fixed time zone in our content management system (CMS): it is always set to Pacific Time regardless of the writer’s location.
On the other hand, YouTube, where our video reviews are published, automatically migrates the time zone depending on where it detects the computer using the upload interface is located. When I entered the embargo time, I didn’t stop to consider that my location at the time — Santiago, Chile — was three hours ahead. I, along with the rest of the YouTube team, then proceeded to board a plane that would be in the air for 12 hours. When we came back online, the damage had already been done.
This isn’t something we did out of malice or selfishness, and we are now working to improve our methods and systems to ensure this never happens again.
As the Editor in Chief of PetaPixel, it falls on me to make sure situations like this don’t happen. To Sony, we are profoundly sorry, but also to our readers and our peers.
To our colleagues across the industry, I know firsthand how hard you all work on creating high-quality content, and I am aware that some of you have relationships with partners and sponsors built upon expected performance metrics. I know that when someone breaks an embargo, it impacts you. I, and the rest of PetaPixel, never want to make it more difficult for you. This is a challenging business, and we are deeply sorry we made it harder for you today.
