IP: Media coverage of Heaven's Gate web connection

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

Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 23:28:57 -0800
From: jwharton () netcom com (John Wharton)
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Media coverage of Heaven's Gate web connection


Dave--


The ABC News "This Week" show devoted the its entire hour Sunday morning 
to the Heaven's Gate story, with -- as some of had feared -- much of the 
time, maybe a third, spent sensationalizing the Web/Internet connection.  


Destined to become an instant classic was a segment with ABC "Technology 
Correspondent" Gina Smith.  "Virtually every cult, from the largest to 
the smallest and most obscure," she explained, "has staked out some sort 
of a claim in cyberspace.  That means about 10,000 cults."  


And she demonstrated how to get information on Satanic Cults, e.g.: all 
you do is call up the Alta Vista web page, type in "satanic" and click 
on "submit".  The search returned about 8000 hits.  "Now that doesn't 
mean we have 8,000 cults here, we have 8,000 web pages that have the 
word "satanic".


Oh.  


"Much more likely, for somebody to find something like this would be if 
someone told you, hey, check out this web site, in fact, that's how ABC 
News found out about the Heaven's Gate web site, we got an anonymous tip 
saying, 'Look at www.heavensgate.com'."  (Who'd'a thought?  No flies on 
/this/ reporter!)


I found Sam Donaldson's attitude disturbingly reactionary.  He asked 
Smith, "Let's talk about how the law is trying to evolve, dealing with 
the internet.  I mean, we're all for the First Amendment here, but there 
are laws for instance against pornography in other areas, and there are 
laws against slander ... And yet on the internet, there's not only 
/pornography/ but people /say/ things on the internet that again, if 
they were in the Washington Post would get them /sued/!"  (My italics, 
denoting Donaldson's clear self-righteous indignation.)  


Donaldson, continuing: "We have international conventions in other areas 
where countries cooperate in trying to prevent things that everyone 
believes oughtn't to be done.  Couldn't we eventually do that as far as 
the internet is concerned?"


Curiously enough, perhaps the only note of reason came from George Will, 
late in the show, who observed that "...Cyberspace is an .../enormous/ 
haystack, and these are /tiny/ little needles, and you really have to 
know what you're looking for to get it, so what ought to worry people 
is, what sends people /looking/?!?"


  --John Wharton


Date: Sun, 30 Mar 1997 23:41:51 -0800
From: jwharton () netcom com (John Wharton)
To: farber () cis upenn edu
Subject: Re:  Media coverage of Heaven's Gate web connection


(continuation:)


I just checked: Had Gina Smith done her Alta Vista search for satanic 
cults by using the key-phrase "satanic cults" (rather than just "satanic"),
she only would have found 200 citations, rather than 8,000.  Not nearly 
as impressive a story, I would guess.


  --John Wharton