[8391] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: WSJ Technology supplement
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Clay Shirky)
Wed Nov 17 10:35:35 1993
From: Clay Shirky <clays@panix.com>
To: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein)
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1993 10:32:10 -0500 (EST)
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <199311151904.AA13581@world.std.com> from "Barry Shein" at Nov 15, 93 02:04:07 pm
>
> I think a well-worn bit of wisdom from the newspaper biz is that a
> paper will publish glaring 72-point headlines about their own demise
> if it will help sell papers (in fact, I think the NY Post recently did
> that, repeatedly.)
>
The corollary is that they won't publish a two-graf story on page B-17
if it will hurt paper sales.
>
> It'd be fun to think there are star chambers where "the truth" is
> manufactured in devious and conspiratorial ways but unfortunately the
> reality is much more mundane, most of the stuff was probably written
> by staff writers and freelancers whose only real contact with
> editorial was getting the assignment, described in very general terms,
> and polishing the copy at the end.
You don't have to believe in a conspiracy to believe that the supplement
was slanted around Dow Jones' perception of online services as competitors
and their move into cyberspace. Conspiracy theories are completely
unnecessary to explain behavior when mere self-interest will do.
--
clays
"Nothing in the world lasts
Save eternal change" Ode to the Coming of Spring, Marquis de Racan
