At 05:34 PM 8/4/99 , Nick Patience wrote:
>At 05:10 PM 8/4/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>
>>On Wed, 4 Aug 1999, Ellen Rony wrote:
>>
>>> My theory about the coverage of the USG/ICANN story is: this shift of
>>> Internet administration to the private sector has so many twists and turns
>>> that it isn't easily given to soundbytes. Mention ICANN and a reporter
>>> must then also describe the whole transfer of functions from NSF to NTIA,
>>> from IANA to ICANN. Most readers' eyes will glaze over before you can say
>>> IFWP.
>>
>>That's something i can agree with. The issues are very complex and the
>>press is not educated enought to deal with the issues.
>>
>>We recently ran tests on all military dns servers and identified a number
>>of them with vulnerabilities in their bind. We contacted the server
>>admins, and nothing happened. We contacted the senate and nothing
>>happened. Finally we tried the press - they responded, but most of them
>>had no idea what are admin was going on about. And these were serious
>>vulnerabilities.
>>
>
>No!! Shocker! The press - even the tech trade press didn't understand
>about vulnerabilities in their bind! Come on, most of the trade press move
>around beats with reasonable regularity and cannot be expected to have the
>same level of understanding on EVERY issue as everyone on these lists.
>
>Ellen hit the problem on the head when she said:
>
>"Mention ICANN and a reporter must then also describe the whole transfer of
>functions from NSF to NTIA,
>from IANA to ICANN. Most readers' eyes will glaze over before you can say
>IFWP."
Sorry Nick, I still don't buy it.
We are not talking about rocket science
here, although framing the debate as the
exploration of the size of a UDP packet
certainly supports your claim.
Bottom line, the story about ICANN is
very simple: It's about the establishment
of a governance body over the Internet, one
that is *supposed* to reflect a bottom-up
consensus building process, one that *isn't*!
Show me *one* story written from this
perspective that has made its way out
to the broad audience of the general
daily newspapers, and I'll admit that
I was mistaken.
Anxiously awaiting your reply . . .
Jay.
>Exactly. I don't have to explain who ICANN is every time I utter the
>acronym. But 90% of reporters do, and people should bear this in mind. It
>makes for an acronym-filled, dull story and many of these hacks work to
>extremely tight deadlines that prevents them writing deep analytical pieces
>with quotes from 12 sources etc etc. Don't expect free daily tech news
>feeds to give you the deep understanding you require. It just ain't going
>to happen, it goes against their model.
>
>Meanwhile the general daily newspapers serve such a broad audience that
>doesn't care about this subject on a regular basis. This subject changes so
>fast, it is very difficult to keep up (I'm doign other things at present
>and find it difficult to pick it up accurately after just 2 or 3 days).
>Therefore the papers tend to have broader sweeping approach that often
>rounds up issues and often steers clear of deep probing, with one or two
>exceptions from time to time.
>
>What happens withithn the hallowed walls of these lists is generally not
>the most crushing issue facing the people of the world, I'm afraid to say.
>There are even more important things (in their eyes) happening in the rest
>of the computer and commuinications industry to occupy them.
>
>There are a lot more issues out there than the press can deal with in a way
>that will sell papers, ads or subscriptions.
>
>Nick
>
>
>
>>Finally, we got in touch with someone, who knew someone who ordered the
>>problem fixed, and ended up getting a thank you note from the pentagon.
>>The press were not much help and most of it was due to a complete lack of
>>understanding the issues.
>>
>>Regards
>>Jeff Mason
>>
>>--
>>Planet Communication & Computing Facility [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Public Access Internet Research Publisher 1 (212) 894-3704 ext. 1033
>>
>>
>
>_______________________________
>Nick Patience
>Internet Editor, ComputerWire Inc
>T: 212 677 0409 x18 F: 212 677 0463
>http://www.computerwire.com
>
Respectfully,
Jay Fenello
President, Iperdome, Inc. 404-943-0524
-----------------------------------------------
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