Talking to Reporters, and Which Ones?

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

Cyphercitizens,

Paul Robichaux writes:

> My opinion, which stands, is that we have spent an inordinate amount
> of time in frivolous discussion about T-shirts. My personal opinion is
> that you build esprit de corps by common effort and common
> achievement, not by how you dress (although my primary experience with
> that sort of team spirit comes from my time in the Marines, where
> everyone wears the same kind of T-shirt :)

I respect Paul's wishes. No one will force him to wear the Cypherpunks
t-shirt, nor to wear the official Cypherpunks sidearm, nor to use the
secret Cypherpunks handshake. (In fact, I doubt anyone will actually
get around to making the t-shirts. If it happens, it'll probably just
be some entrepreneur on the List, and will not come from a collective
decision--which is impossible, anyway.)

But I still maintain that the reason only one person has talked to the
journalist mentioned has *nothing* to do with the List working on
t-shirts....I mean, come on! If we drop all speculations about
t-shirts--which a lot of folks seem to be having some fun at, and some
stimulating ideas for publicity (which, ironically, may be *very*
valuable in communicating our message to journalists and others--will
we all suddenly start working on the "real" Cypherpunks projects?
(What are they, by the way? No one seems to know. Probably just as well.)

> Many of our illustrious contributors have talked with high-powered
> journalists in the past, and I applaud that effort. Considering the
> target market of Phil's article- other professional journalists- I
> think spending time to answer his questions is worthwhile.

Sounds fine to me. Those who want to talk to him, should. Most serious
journalists, though (and here I admit to running a risk of sounding
judgmental or snotty...not my intent), do enough groundwork to _seek
out_ the opinions of those they have gotten interested in. The "cattle
call" approach has been seen increasingly, as with the woman
journalist who announced she was researching an article on "Pedophiles
on the Net" and she wanted comments sent to her! Contrast this with
Kelly, Levy, Markoff, Dibbell, etc., all of whom have familiarized
themselves with the communities they intended to cover and then have
contacted specific folks. I'm not knocking either Mr. Mulivor or Mr.
Hum (if I remember his name correctly), and they may indeed be fine
reporters. Certainly they should be treated politely and helped by
whomever wishes to.

[To pick a nit: asking readers to call long-distance to give their
tips is unusual, at least from my experience. Reporters typically take
great efforts to call their sources, not the other way around. But
I'll concede that perhaps the three journalists mentioned so
far--Mulivor, Hum, and the woman writing on pedophiles--are using the
"call me" approach to generate initial contacts. They should be aware
of course of possible skewing effects (not that the rest of us are not
also skewed, of course :-} ).]

> To me, it's more important to educate reporters in (for example)
> Huntsville and Peoria to our cause than to spread the word to trendy,
> likely-to-be-sympathetic-to-our-cause folks who read _Wired_, _Village
> Voice_, and _Whole Earth Review._

Well here I just have to disagree completely. It's just a plain and
simple fact that these sorts of magazines--"Wired" and its
cousins--are having an enormous impact on folks. This is how many of our
List members first learned of this List, this is how much of the
crypto debate is being framed, and this is where interested readers
will turn for information. (To the list I would add "Mondo 2000,"
"Boing Boing," "Communications of the ACM," and a few other mags and
journals.)

Also, the articles in "Wired" and "WER" were exceptionally long and
well-written, quite likely beyond what could be conveyed in a
small-town newspaper. A small-time paper could just not justify such
in-depth coverage. Sound bites would be more likely. Ironically, as I
said earlier, the planning for a t-shirt may actually generated some
really memorable sound bites! And the wearing of such t-shirts, should
anyone actually just go ahead and make them (hint! hint!) could
actually be the catalyst for a local paper doing a story on these
"Cypherpunks" and their provocative comments about privacy, Big
Brother, and the NSA. But I digress.

Reporters from Huntsville and Peoria are not to be disdained, but the
List cannot be expected to educate and spoon-feed them. (Anyone who
wants to, can, obviously. I've not heard of anyone refusing to talk to
them, if they have contacted members of this List.)

The journal Mulivor writes for is familiar to me through interviews on
the C-SPAN cable t.v. show with Brian Lamb, but I haven't seen it
myself. Those who want to talk to him should, by all means.

> > Mulivor on the alt.whistleblower list. (Lance speculates, correctly I
> > think, that Mulivor has no Net access. If true, I question that Mulivor is
> > such a high-priority journalistic target anyway. Maybe he is. But I'm sure
> > enough folks will talk to him. The talk of mail programs and t-shirts is
> > not likely to affect this.)
> 
> Well, Lance missed the boat here; I have had an ongoing exchange with
> Phil via his e-mail account (mulivor@crc.monroecc.edu), which last I
> heard counted as net access...

By "Net access" I meant Usenet, as in the "alt.whistleblowers" and
"sci.crypt" newsgroups. 

My comment derived from this remark by Lance Dettweiler when he posted
Mr. Mulivor's call:

"This posting went through a gateway so the author is probably not able
to read news; reply via email."
 
I certainly hope Mr. Mulivor is able to get Net access--not just
e-mail--so he can get a better picture of what's going on before his
article appears.      

If Mr. Mulivor lives in the D.C. area, perhaps the D.C. Cypherpunks in
Northern Virginia (mostly) can meet with him, perhaps they can even
invite him to attend their next meeting (I hear Boston/Cambridge is
planning their meeting to coincided with the California meeting,
Saturday, August 14th, so perhaps the D.C. folks will also be doing
so.)

Finally, I think this little debate has been useful and enjoyable (to
me, at least). It helps us to focus on the issues of what we are,
what's important, how to talk to journalists, and so on. 

Kind of like what planning to put on a t-shirt does.


-Tim May

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