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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
[Will has the right of it. --Declan] ********* From: "Rodger, William" <wrodger@usatoday.com> To: declan@well.com Subject: RE: Dealing with the Washington media -- survivors speak out Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 15:29:14 -0500 Declan -- It was bad enough reading supposedly eminent journalists and former journalists telling soon-to-be-public figures not to talk to the press; perhaps all of them were speaking to potential nominees and no one else. More disappointing, however, was Brookings' reprise of Janet Malcom's sickening little chestnut from a decade ago: "Every journalist who is not too stupid or full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on peoples vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse." Brookings in reply says: "That may be a gross exaggeration, but it has a kernel of truth. Journalists do want to gain your confidence and its not because they want to be your friends." No, reporters generally don't want to be friends to their sources. Most of us want to air all sides of a story, and do it ethically, without resorting to the sort of tactics Ms. Malcolm believes are universal. Brookings would do well to separate the bulk of the craft from self-described confidence (wo)men like Janet Malcolm. Will Rodger Voice +1 703 558 3375 Technology Reporter Fax +1 703 558 3981 USATODAY.com http://tech.usatoday.com PGP 584D FD11 3035 0EC2 B35C AB16 D660 293F C7BE 3F62 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------