(CWD) Retrospective

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

CyberWire Dispatch // Copyright (c) 1994 //


Jacking in from "It's Been A Hell of a Year" Port:


Washington, DC -- What a wild ride it was, 1994.  It's been a comfort to
have had each of you right there with Dispatch every step of the way.


CyberWire Dispatch is barely a year old, yet the scope of its readership
and breadth of its success is truly amazing.  Dispatch regularly broke
major stories during 1994, beating the major daily newspapers to the punch
time and again.  That success and the acceptance of this truly unique news
service by the Net community is what kept Dispatch "in business," so to
speak.


What success Dispatch has had is a direct reflection of you, the reader.
Without your support and input, this effort would have atrophied and
slipped quietly into the ether long ago.  The triumphs were many, but there
also were many dark days.


Dispatch's struggle to punch through the ominous cloud of the first libel
suit filed against a journalist for something published on the Internet has
been well chronicled.  There were many weeks during those dark months that
Dispatch struggled to keep its focus.  In all candor, the fight was often
day to day and there were times when the effort to write Dispatch simply
seemed more trouble than it was worth.


But Dispatch continued to receive your support.  You never let us forget
how much you appreciated our efforts.  And I'm not ashamed to say that I
leaned heavily on that encouragement and support.  There are many, many to
whom we owe a great thanks.


First, there are the thousands of you that responded to Dispatch's legal
defense fund drive.  That effort brought in a total of about $7,000.  Each
and every dollar is appreciated and it is humbling to have been on the
receiving end of those gifts.  The legal fees incurred in fighting the
libel suit, however, came to about $30,000.  All the money went to pay
those fees, leaving a $23,000 deficit.


More good news:  Dispatch didn't get hit with having to make up that
$23,000.  Our lawyers, Bruce Sanford and David Marburger, both of the law
firm Baker & Hostetler, graciously agreed to accept all the money raised by
the Defense Fund and payment in full.


And while the kindness of Sanford and Marburger and the partners of Baker &
Hostetler can't be repaid, Bruce and David went beyond just being "my
lawyers."  They provided invaluable advise and support during some of the
darkest hours and just when it seemed like I was ready to snap from the
pressure.


Dispatch, of course, eventually beat that libel suit.  The case was settled
out of court.  There was a payment of $64 made to cover court filing fees.
But Dispatch issued no apology, no retraction, no correction and there was
no admission of liability.


A big thanks also is due Sam Simon, president of Issues Dynamics, Inc. of
Washington, DC.  Sam did the heavy lifting on my Defense fund and used the
resources of IDI to handle the flow of money from the Net to the lawyers.
Sam also coordinated the gathering of all those that lent their names to
the defense fund and it was IDI that housed the Internet account from which
the fund responded to individuals.


The "thank yous" also must extend to all those that signed on as part of my
Defense Fund committee, lending the weight and influence of their
reputations to my case.  I appreciated their support on several levels on
my behalf.


Dispatch started its life this year with no home page, no archive, nothing
but an informal "home" based at the WELL.  It was distributed only on a
couple of mailing lists.  The fact that it was regularly reposted around
the world and throughout several government agencies, is a tribute to those
readers that thought it important to take the time and effort to send it
along.


But soon the pleas to start a mailing list for Dispatch became too many to
ignore.  That effort would never have been possibly without the efforts of
another Dispatch benefactor, Eric Theise (verve () cyberwerks com), president
of the San Francisco-based Liberty Media and operator of the cyberwerks.com
site from which Dispatch is administered.  Eric, too, has donated his time
and resources to Dispatch, for that Dispatch owes him much, as do you, the
reader.  Without Eric's work and generosity, there would be n o mailing
list, no gopher archive (though Dispatch is now up on several gopher sites
throughout the world) and no home page.


(Small Disclaimer:  Dispatch is arguably the owner of the WEB's _ugliest_
and most boring home page.  This is not Eric's doing... it is due largely
to my own shortcomings.  I have had neither the time nor the inclination to
"sweeten" the Dispatch home page on my own.  So, if any reader out there
wants to take on a worthy "makeover" project by reinventing the Dispatch
home page, just Email me.)


Also due a large measure of thanks are my previous and current employers,
Communications Daily and Inter@ctive Week, respectively.  For each of these
publications, my writing of Dispatch provided no small measure of concern
on several levels.  But the editors at each of those publications had the
stones to see beyond the usual tired arguments that keep reporters from
writing with attitude.  The recognition that Dispatch has gained only
served to add to the visibility of those publications, too.


Adding to the excitement-stress of this year was a job change.  (My "day
job" as a reporter covering DC essentially underwrites Dispatch.)  After 2
1/2 years, I left Communications Daily and went to work for Inter@ctive
Week.


The skills I gained and enhanced working for Communications Daily cannot be
overstated.  I learned much from all my colleagues and editors at
CommDaily.  But my biggest lessons were from watching and working with
CommDaily's Art Brodsky.   He taught me much about working inside the
Beltway and about workings of the telecommunications industry in general.
I don't believe there is a better reporter in all of Washington than Art.
Best of all, Art was a perfect "good cop" to my "bad cop."


My long time mentor and friend, Richard Louv, also has been with me while
birthing Dispatch.  Rich is a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune and
author of several books.  I'm sure he would be surprised to know that I
still learn from him, but I do.  His newspaper columns function as my own
self-styled "continuing education" journalistic workshop.


Then there is my trusted "personal advisor" Peter Grunwald.  He's acted as
a real-time bullshit detector for Dispatch and has added his valuable
insight as in interested "outside" observer over the course of the year.


A measure of Dispatch's success this year can be seen in the fact that hard
copy publications are picking up our stories and running with them (as
opposed to some daily newspapers which have used our stories merely as
jumping off points for their own copy... not bothering to give us any
credit.  Ahem... but I digress...).


Already Wired magazine has picked up several Dispatch articles in one form
or another.  MicroTimes, a regional computer publication distributed in
California has printed Dispatch.  In addition, Dispatch has just set up a
deal with MetroTimes, the 100,000-plus circulation alternative weekly in
Detroit, to print our stories.  And we've begun negotiations with the
Anchorage Daily News, the largest daily newspaper in Alaska, which also
wants to start running Dispatch on a regular basis.


And there have been other newspapers that have, from time to time,
expressed interest in Dispatch in some form or another.  Although these
discussions haven't progressed very far, as they say, "it's an honor just
to be nominated."


This year we hope to add more "features" to Dispatch.  Running guest
editorials, in the way that Newsweek runs the "My Turn" column is one area
we're thinking of starting.


Also, we'd like to begin a type of "letters to the Editor" column.
Currently, Dispatch readers simply respond to an article by posting a
comment to the mailing list on which they read Dispatch.  But these lists
don't often "cross pollinate" so we'd like to start something that gathers
comments up in the familiar digest form and distribute them.


But Dispatch is as much a product of its readership as it is a "sweat
equity" publication of my own.  So You Tell Me what you want.  Also,
Dispatch would like to hear more from you about stories we should cover.
You are, after all, in the trenches.  You and your colleagues are living
and breathing a million different stories.  So... get on that keyboard and
tell them to me.


Don't feel like being an official "whistleblower"?  Use Dispatch to let off
some of your frustrations.  I guarantee, we're good listeners.


May the coming months bring each of you a healthy and prosperous new year.


Respectfully.


Meeks out...