From: jrochkin@cs.oberlin.edu (Jonathan Rochkind)
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 05:55:00 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: The FV Problem = A Press Problem
Message-ID: <ad33cbb800021004bab7@[132.162.233.188]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 9:03 AM 01/30/96, Timothy C. May wrote:
[...]
>But, it occurred to me, this is just part of the larger syndrom. Simson's
>article was practically written from the FV press release. While he
>interviewed some "security experts," clearly the timing of his article
>(this morning) and the announcement by Nathaniel of his discovery (this
>morning) suggests the cozy relationship involved.
>
>The larger syndrome is that software deals, alliances, mergers, and
>problems are all based on hype. Nathaniel Borenstein issues press releases,
>Sameer Parekh issues press releases, and maybe even I would issue press
>releases if only I knew how to.
[...]

I'd say _all_ news, not just software news, is P.R. controlled, these days.
You can largely hold Edward L. Bernays, the "father of public relations"
(who just died last year) responsible for that--or the societal conditions
that allowed Bernays to do his thing.  Bernays developed expertise in
"engineering of consent" turned the news into a commercialized and
manufactured commodity.  As the NYT magazine "people who died last year"
blurb on him said, maybe once you could trust that the news you read was
something that a reporter or editor independently decided was newsworthy.
Now, the news you read is manufactured in press releases to sell a product,
and is there because a well written press release convinced a reporter or
editor that a marketting ploy was actually a newsworthy event (or, perhaps,
because the advertising dollars that went along with the press release
convinced him).  Witness FVs demonstration of key capture becoming a
newsworthy event.

If you want to effect what's in the media, maybe you should learn how to
issue press releases.

> Journalists seem to love this, because the press releases write the
> stories. Companies like it, too, because they can get free newspaper
> space. Everyone is scratching each other's back.

Yup.   Throw the government into the mix too, and I think you've got a
pretty good model of the media.

--
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and
opinions of the masses is an
important element in a democratic society. . . Those who manipulate this
unseen mechanism of
society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power
of our country."
-- Edward Bernays