FC: Replies to technology reporter defends PressBlaster spam software

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

My (partial) email count from Thursday (filtering courtesy of Procmail):

%pwd
/home/declan/.procmail
%grep "Thu Feb  7" log |wc -l
   1113
%

Previous Politech message:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-03125.html

-Declan

**********

Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2002 11:19:30 +0000
To: declan () well com
From: "Charles Arthur, The Independent" <carthur () independent co uk>
Subject: Re: FC: PressBlaster and the new form of journalism - agriculture
 vs hunter-gathering

Hi Declan...

I note Margie Wylie's comments....

>From: Margie Wylie <margie.wylie () newhouse com>
..
>As "the press" it's our job, nay, our duty to take press releases and tips
>from everyone so inclined to send them.
>
>With this territory comes the inane, the irrelevant, the goofy, and, yes,
>my favorite, the cranks.
>
>I am dismayed by the attitude so prevalent these days among reporters that
>people who "can't write a press release" have no business contacting them.
>I am at loss to explain this attitude, but it does seem to be the kind
>thinking that gets us labeled as an "elite" of corporate lapdogs who are
>fed their stories by a professional corps of spinmiesters.
>
>A free press is no use without free access to it.
>
>I hate Spam as much as the next guy, but as long as someone is really
>sending me a press release (even a bulk e-mail press release) and not
>trying to sell me an "amazing new product" or a "secret investment tool,"
>it seems to me that that is a legitimate use of my publicly available
>professional e-mail address.

The problem is, it seems to me, that journalism is moving from being a
hunter-gatherer occupation - where one goes on the hunt for something,
which takes cunning and ability and experience - to being agriculture. Big
area to cover, lot of words, take the seed (press bumf) and spread it and
water it with a little bit of knowledge and a call or two and there you
are, a field (story) filled.
        It's competent, and it's filling, but it's also complete PR-driven
rubbish. As a journalist, one really feels the difference between a
hunter-gatherer-style story and an agriculture-style one. It's the
difference between the woman who started looking into Enron's accounts
properly and the one who just reports Enron's claims for their results.

Personally, I think h-g style journalism is really under threat through
tighter deadlines (why does all this tech not give us *more* time to write
and research?), fewer people in the job, and more pointless PR flack spew
pouring out of companies and into our inboxes.

Stuff like PressBlaster, which thankfully I don't seem to be targeted by...
yet... just accelerate that process. People think because they -
particularly their company - have got something to say that you as a
journalist should listen, and be excited because they are. I tend to growl
at such folk. I suspect I have a reputation as the grouchiest tech hack in
Fleet Street. Suits me fine, because not being called up by PR folk
reciting a script about how they sent me an email yesterday and did I
receive it and have I got any more questions gives me time to actually
*think*.

That doesn't stop me getting 200-odd emails a day - and I'd *really* like
to know Declan's strategy for dealing with 1,000 - which I can only handle
at all because I, alone in my office, use Eudora. Everyone else is on Lotus
Notes, in a flat file format, and emails scroll up the screen.

GTG. Phone is ringing...


        best
        Charles

 -------------------------------------------------------------------
The Independent newspaper on the Web: http://www.independent.co.uk/
        It's even better on paper

**********

Date: Thu, 07 Feb 2002 18:33:09 -0500
From: "Robin (Roblimo) Miller" <robin () roblimo com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Re: FC: Technology reporter defends PressBlaster spam software

> I hate Spam as much as the next guy, but as long as someone is really 
> sending me a press release (even a bulk e-mail press release) and not 
> trying to sell me an "amazing new product" or a "secret investment tool," 
> it seems to me that that is a legitimate use of my publicly available 
> professional e-mail address.

But isn't sending the following (PressBlaster) press release to editors at 
a publication whose media guide listings all say it covers nothing but 
Linux and Open Source software news really just spam? And isn't the lack of 
a removal mechanism for people who receive email though alias addresses 
rather rude? And isn't the "handful of target media contacts" line 
somewhat, um, untrue?

- Robin "Roblimo" Miller
Editor,
NewsForge
Slashdot
and now Linux.com too...

-------------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nicki Lynn May Releases New eBook--Winifred Wellington Wallaby, The World's 
Only Dancing Wallaby

CONTACT:
Nicki Lynn May
emeraldisle2 () hotmail com

(Cincinnati, Ohio Feb. 5, 2002) Join Winifred
Wellington Wallaby on her journey as she tries
to defy all the odds as well as prove everyone
wrong in order to make her fondest dream of
becoming a ballerina come true. Discover why
all of us regardless of our age should
always keep the child that lives in our heart
of hearts alive forever!

I grew up in a much simplier time, a time when
children were allowed to be children without all
the outside pressures and problems that exist
today. I wrote this book for the children of
today hoping that they could escape the frightening
confusing world around them for just a little
while. I hope that Winifred Wellington Wallaby
can take them with her on her journey of discovery
to find out if dreams really can come true.

A very satisfied reader wrote: "What a sweet
touching little book, I fell in love with Winnie
and couldn't wait to get to the next page to see
what was going to happen to Winnie next"!

Winifred Wellington Wallaby, The World's Only
Dancing Wallaby is available for sale on www.eBookMall.com

Winifred Wellington Wallaby, The World's Only
Dancing Wallaby is a story about dreams, hope,
faith, and belief in oneself. Come along with
little Winnie as she travels to magical lands
meeting new and exciting people along the way.
Find out if Winnie will see her fondest dream
of becoming a ballerina realized. Who knows,
maybe you too can discover the secret to making
your fondest dreams come true!


                   # # #

REMOVE INFORMATION:

This Press Release is being sent to a handful of targeted
media contacts who we felt were most appropriate to receive
it. If you would like us to remove your email address from our
list of occasional press releases, simply reply with the word
"remove" in the subject line. You will never again receive a
press release from us.





-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------