[978] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Thank you for your comments
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joe Abernathy)
Sat Jul 13 22:19:54 1991
Date: Sat, 13 Jul 91 21:05:33 CDT
From: edtjda@magic322.chron.com (Joe Abernathy)
To: com-priv@psi.com
Cc: nren-discuss@magic322.chron.com
Pro, con, good, bad and indifferent, you are surely one of the most
stunning collection of intellects one could hope to encounter.
I'm not going to respond to any of the flames or expressions of opinion,
but I will be happy to answer any specific questions that you might wish
to ask of me. And I would very much appreciate any suggestions that you
might offer on how to improve the quality of my Internet coverage. I've
done nothing else to speak of for two years, and this organization is committed
to doing the best job possible given the constraints under which we work. We do
listen very intently to the opinions that you express.
The net is getting ready to be the recipient of a lot more money and
attention, and when that happens, you're going to be overrun by members
of the mainstream press. When this occurs, I think you're going to see
that a lot of the criticisms you assign to me now are things that might more
readily be assigned to daily journalism. It isn't a perfect medium -- far
from it -- but we are sincere people trying to do a job that needs done.
Try to remember also that we're trained as journalists, and for a journalist
to cover this community, he or she has to become immersed in a whole new
field. Our mistakes -- my mistakes -- are honest ones, which we have no
desire to repeat.
Who should cover the Internet? Markoff? The trades? Everybody with an interest
in doing so. There are a lot of ways of getting at the truth, and a lot of
ways of presenting the truth. Many of you have criticized me because I use
compelling adjectives and focus on the issues from a man-on-the-street
perspective -- the very thing you would normally demand from the opposition
press. But I don't think I'm a better journalist than somebody like Markoff
-- far from it. He just hasn't shown a great deal of interest in covering
the Internet from a public affairs perspective.
Getting back to the matter at hand, it may interest you to learn that
the House passed the NREN legislation late this week. Last I heard,
it was available but not yet on the calendar of the Senate. Supposed to
be approved before the August recess.
Best Regards.
Joe Abernathy
The Houston Chronicle
(800) 735-3820
edtjda@chron.com
