Re: Nader Conference & Media Coverage

[Tod Landis <landis@cruzio.com>]

  Microsoft spent $900,000 lobbying Congress?  Maybe we
  should call it the Auction House of Representatives.
  
  Tod Landis
  
  Marianne Wolfman wrote:
  
  > What is the problem in the media with coverage of the computer industry and
  > events like the Nader Conference?
  >
  > The San Jose Mercury News, newspaper of Silicon Valley, featured the
  > Conference as the lead article in the Business Section on Friday (11-14).
  > Under the headline, "Microsoft Under Siege," were two articles -- "Software
  > Goliath fights back with public relations blitz" and "Conference is a bash
  > fest."
  >
  > Of the 38-3/4 column inches of reporting in the two articles, 60% was
  > devoted to Microsoft and Microsoft viewpoints.  In the article supposedly
  > about the conference itself (headlined "bash fest"), 41% was devoted to
  > Microsoft and its viewpoints.
  >
  > Scant mention was made of the issues that prompted the conference or that
  > were raised at the conference.  The reader seeking information about issues
  > or the actual content of the conference received little more than allusions
  > and a few tidbits -- nothing substantial, although the reader is informed
  > that "Nader's conference spewed forth a steady stream of Microsoft's
  > supposed transgressions."  The reporter's colorful language and use of
  > qualifiers, like "supposed" transgressions and "alleged" problem is
  > interesting, especially since such qualifiers are absent in reporting on
  > Microsoft's position.
  >
  > The Conference was cast as a battle by the San Jose Mercury News in
  > descriptions such as "bash fest," the use of words like "attack" and
  > "siege," and the header "Microsoft fights back,"  terms strikingly similar
  > or identical to the ones Microsoft proponents use to describe critics.
  >
  > The coverage on Microsoft did contain some good background information,
  > such as the fact that Microsoft spent over $900,000 on lobbying in
  > Washington, DC during the first 6 months of this year, presumably spread
  > among the nine firms Microsoft has hired to represent them and including at
  > least one lobbyist who is close to House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
  >
  >    ---  Marianne Wolfman          marianne@ccnet.com
  >
  > .-