The Guardian recently published its Media 100 list which contained an annual run down of the 90 or so most powerful movers and shakers in the media world, fleshed out with some customary friends and relatives of the same.
But always democratic, the Guardian then threw open the voting to see who its readers thought was most conspicuous by their absence - who should be the 101st person on the list? And that's where things started to go a little awry.
I'll let The Guardian explain, not least because it apparently took three staffers to write up this account of the alleged voting rigging that ensued:
"Former Wallpaper editor Tyler Brûlé took the honours at the 11th hour after he received 160 votes in a 30-minute period just before the poll closed. An investigation revealed that Brûlé's 160 last-minute votes were all cast from a single internet address. And the IP address corresponded to ...the London headquarters of Brûlé's publishing group, Winkreative.
"Brûlé told MediaGuardian: "I have a very loyal staff. There was definitely no concerted effort... This is a loyal building. I am sure if someone saw that we were in fifth place they would rally the troops [wouldn't that be "a concerted effort" then?]... But even Brûlé was moved to admit that so many votes from just 80 [staff] was a little hard to explain."
No, it's really not; it's actually really easy to explain. Let me have a go: for whatever reason, somebody, or possibly several people, working within Winkreative's offices sat there voting multiple times until Brûlé came out on top.
The only thing that surprises me is that if it took just 160 votes to swing the poll - and the person or persons involved were really so keen to see Brûlé scoop the coveted 101st spot - why didn't they just rally people across social networks such as Twitter earlier in the voting process and win it by a distance, rather than relying upon a last minute flurry of votes from a single IP address.
The only question now (not counting 'who really cares anyway?') is whether The Guardian will let Brûlé keep his hard-fought 101st place on the list.
Comments