[8348] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: WSJ Technology supplement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Carl Briggs, Public Relations)
Mon Nov 15 19:24:33 1993
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 1993 19:21:44 -0500 (EST)
From: "Carl Briggs, Public Relations" <BRIGGS@ab.wvnet.edu>
To: dave@oldcolo.com, COM-PRIV@psi.com
X-Vms-To: WVNET::IN%"dave@oldcolo.com"
Just a few comments in response to this edited message:
> I read the entire WSJ section on 'Wired' Technology, and found
> it was very uneven.
> But the LAST place I will
> refer people to learn what this medium is all about, is to general national
> publications. I thought the WSJ, viewing it from an emerging serious
> business sector, would have done better.
> Of course virtually no US computer magazines have ever gotton it
> right yet either, so I guess its in its nature.
> For example, I didn't catch a reference to the current trend in
> publications going online, spending serious bucks doing it - as Time and
> several others have on AOL - complete with reporter/editor participation in
> feedback conferences, LA Times on Prodigy (?), others on CIS etc. A recent
> and fast moving trend. Overlooked by the WSJ reporters?
While I agree in general that the WSJ _could_ have done an additional story or
two in the supplement that _really_ would have made it a bonus, I must say
that, on the whole, I think the WSJ has covered this issue better than just
about any print publication.
It was only about 10 months ago that the NYT's John Markoff ran an excellent,
long Sunday "take-out," if that's the right word for it, on
Internet/networking/phone companies/etc. on the front page of a Sunday _New
York Times_ business section. The _Washington Post_, likewise, has done a bit
in the past 10 months as well.
But nobody, as far as I can tell, has done anything _nearly_ as comprehensive,
for 75 cents, as the WSJ section. That is the sort of supplement that you can
pass on to a business manager of a company and say, "Hey, it's not just a
techie thing, see?" Or words to that effect.
Granted, there was a big gap in the lack of mention of publishers going online.
But the WSJ has been good -- as have the NYT, _Fortune_, _Forbes_, others -- in
discussing these developments _as they happen_.
In short, I think the national press has come _a long way_ in 10 months. The
vast, vast majority of computer-using folks have virtually _no idea_ what
networking is all about. So for them, at this stage, the WSJ is an _excellent_
place for them to begin.
Carl Briggs
Alderson-Broaddus College
