Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!xanth!mcnc!ecsvax!ehr From: ehr@ecsvax.uncecs.edu (Ernest H. Robl) Newsgroups: news.misc Subject: Re: Is the news media really that stupid? Summary: beware of generalizations (long) Keywords: ignornace, money, power, the usual stuff Message-ID: <6092@ecsvax.uncecs.edu> Date: 12 Dec 88 19:34:35 GMT References: <6023@hoptoad.uucp> <885@hdr.UUCP> <33346@bbn.COM> <80986@sun.uucp> Organization: UNC Educational Computing Service Lines: 78 Regarding the extended recent extended discussion of the news media's abilities to report on computer issues and/or motives for reporting what they do: 1) Background: My own background includes considerable journalism experience. That's what my BA is in, and for about five years I worked for United Press International (UPI) as a general assignment newsman. I was manager of a small UPI bureau at the time I left the organization in the mid 1970s. The story of how I got from journalism to computing is too long to go into here -- and you probably don't care about it anyway -- but, I still do a considerable amount of freelance writing and photography, so, I've kept some contact with the business, though not with daily news reporting. 2) Comments: I don't think you can find any sinister motive for what gets reported -- or for what information gets mangled in the reporting of complex issues, of which computing is only one among many. You'll find a wide range of people in journalism, ranging from the competent and dedicated to those with neither of those attributes. In addition, deadline pressures and the need to compress complex stories to fit a specific space/time slot (particularly in broadcast journalism) compound other problems. Unfortunately, incompetence happens. And it happens more in some situations and organizations, depending on the management climate. One of my areas of special interest -- in which I've had quite a bit published -- is railroad transportation. I'd hate to have to try to list all the incidents where I've seen reporting of issues related to that subject mangled in the general news media. One of my favorites happened only a couple of years ago when a local television station showed a particular graphic while reporting about a minor local railroad accident. The graphic? A drawing of a 19th century steam locomotive. Another unfortunate aspect of the news business is that good news is generally not news at all. Problems/scandals/disasters are what makes headlines. 3) Suggestions: So, what can you do try to avoid having information mangled? If you do get contacted by a reporter to comment on or explain some issue, try to make sure you have enough time to explain things. And, above all, GET FEEDBACK. Asking someone if he has understood what you just explained is fairly useless, because, to avoid embarassment, that person will usually say, "Yes." Or, he may genuinely believe that he understands things when he really doesn't. But, if you can manage to have the interview take place in an unpressured situation, there are other ways in which you can ask the interviewer to give you back the explanation you've just given -- in his own words. A competent interviewer -- especially if he's not an expert in the subject being discussed -- will normally do this on his own. ("Let me make sure that I understand what you've just told me. You're saying that ....") If nothing else, try to impress on the interviewer that the issues he's asking about are more complex than can be explained in a few minutes -- not that they are too complex for him to understand! Sometimes this message will even get through. The best way to get better reporting about computer issues is to develop better contacts with the news media. Even if a reporter calls you under deadline pressure for a quick comment, you may be able to suggest that he get back to you later, at a less pressured time, for more background information. He may learn some useful things, you may make a useful contact, and you may both contribute something to the cause of better understanding of computing issues. That's my two cents worth for now. -- Ernest -- My opinions are my own and probably not IBM-compatible.--ehr Ernest H. Robl (ehr@ecsvax) (919) 684-6269 w; (919) 286-3845 h Systems Specialist (Tandem System Manager), Library Systems, 027 Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706 U.S.A.