[1004] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Thank you for your comments
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Abernathy)
Mon Jul 15 19:12:22 1991
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 91 17:40:26 CDT
From: edtjda@magic322.chron.com (Joe Abernathy)
To: uunet!tmc.edu!sob@uunet.UU.NET
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
> Stan Olan Barber writes:
> I remain convinced that you (and the Chronicle) are much more interested in
> selling newspapers than getting your facts straight.
You'd be shocked at how little attention we pay to sales. These are the things
that my editor asks: How many original pulblic affairs issues will this story
raise; how important are these issues to our particular audience; how can we
best present them in a way this is both compelling and accurate; how can we
matintain balance and objectivity; and how can we do all this in the constraints
of the mainstream press, i.e., space and time and financial resources.
> I am curious what you mean when you say the "opposition press" and "public
> affairs perspective"? Would you expand on these phrases?
That strikes to the heart of your displeasure with me, I suspect. We don't
feel like it's necessarily a part of our mission to do advocacy feature
articles on the nature of the net, although that's something we certainly
want to include in our articles, and do in clude in our articles. Our coverage
is an undertaking of the Chronicle's investigative special projects department,
which is quite a different face of the Fourth Estate than most computer and
information scientists are used to encountering. In terms of journalism, our
research methods and writing approach are well established and largely without
controversy. The controversy comes from the application of these tools to this
new medium at this particularly poewrful moment in its evolution.
And controversy is OK; that comes with the territory. But I do feel that
perhaps it's time to start putting it into context, because this off-the-wall
flame war is a disservice to all parties concerned. I've met a lot of top
people in this medium, and developed a lot of respect for their work, including
thsieir methods. It's time that you know how much we respect you, which is
quite a lot, despite that our methods and conclusions will sometimes put us
at odds.
What I'd like to see develop, and what I see developing, is a more mature
relatinonship between the press and the Internet. I'm learning the niceties
of how to show respect for the people and politics of the network, while
many of you are learning a great deal about how to deal with the people of
the press. We live in very, very different worlds but share a strong commitment
to seeing that the right things is done and the public good is served.
{Excuse the typos ... I'm exiled to a rather balky xterminal today.}
Joe Abernathy
The Houston Chronicle
((8000
(800) 735-3820
edtjda@chron.com
