[1490] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Journalistic ethics
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sean Donelan)
Thu Oct 10 18:51:10 1991
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1991 17:50:48 CDT
From: SEAN@SDG.DRA.COM (Sean Donelan)
To: com-priv@psi.com
X-Vmsmail-To: SMTP%"com-priv@psi.com"
What's that quote, don't say anything that you wouldn't want to appear on
the front page of the New York Times (Washington Post, Houston Chronicle, etc).
If someone feels the need to quote something from this list, I hope they also
include that this list is archived. The nice thing about the net is you don't
have to take anyone's word for what was written. You can easily look it up
in the archives and read the exchange for yourself. If you're not on the net,
or prefer private e-mail, I guess you have to trust the reporter's ability to
accurately present what was said.
How to elicit the largest reaction in the shortest time. The well reasoned
statement is filed away to be handled at some future time (never?). On the
other hand the well-written flame gets the reader's immediate attention, and
calls for them to take action. You can leave phone messages with secretaries,
business cards at Interop, but the only sure-fire way to get a response is by
making the most outragous statements on the biggest, most public list around.
The best, and the famous will hunt you down to the ends of the earth to tell
you that you are wrong, even if they wouldn't return your phone calls before.
Cynical, yes. Works, almost every time. Some other way, I would love to.
--
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
Domain: sean@sdg.dra.com, Voice: (Work) +1 314-432-1100
