Re: Cypherpunks Press release

[Jiri Baum <jirib@sweeney.cs.monash.edu.au>]

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Hello cypherpunks@toad.com
  and tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)

tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May) wrote:

> I guess you all know how much I hate this "who will be our spokesman?"
...

It seems to me that there are two viewpoints, 
  * a spokesman would be useful, and
  * a spokesman cannot be appointed due to lack of org

Which both seem to be true to me (they are *not* contradictory, only
the consequences are).


How about this idea: I remember once seeing some piece on some TV
personality (sorry, don't remember who, long time ago) who was
interviewed by fax. The jounalist sent questions to him, and some
time later received answers.

All that is needed then is someone with a fax machine to volunteer
to receive the fax, type it in and summarise the response afterwards
(noting points on which there was disagreement, and who disagreed
in what way).

...
> I've turned down several recent chances for interviews, for these reasons:
> 
> 1. I feel the people doing the work should be interviewed, not just someone
> who has some visibility (whatever mine might be). If PGP is the issue, then
...

Except PGP skill doesn't equal PR skill, not to mention that there
might be a geographical, time-zone or language barrier.

Sometimes having a separate PR person is useful, even if it does
tend to lead to the moronic statements salesdroids are infamous for.
With care, this problem can be minimized.

...
> 2. Location, location, location! The media foci are Washington, New York,
> and San Francisco, at least for our area of interest. Occasional forays
> into Austin, Miami, L.A., etc. This is where the taped interviews are done.
...

Not all PGP is done in those areas. You might want to have a SpokesPunk
near a focus to avoid having to get the people who actually do the work
to one of the abovementioned foci.

...
> The point? These "journalists" are tuned to looking for catchy quotes, all
...

It's in our interest to give them such catchy quotes, no?
Unless it would destroy us, of course...

...
> With no organization, no office, no coordination, we cannot "feed the media
> machine" the way it expects to be fed.

Only problem is, does anyone know of any other way to get our
ideas to be accepted by Joe Sixpack?

...
> Far better that journalists like Steven Levy and John Markoff subsribe to
> the list, or to condensations by people like Eric Blossom, and then deal
...

But then wouldn't that journalist act as a SpokesPunk?

Would you support such a jounalist writing about Cypherpunks?

What is the essential difference between a jounalist writing an
article and a volunteer writing a press release?

> Anarchy is part of our charm. More importantly, part of our theme.
...

A well-written press release could reflect that.

For example, some points could be presented in two ways (perhaps
even contradictory) with full attribution of who wrote which view.

Those who oppose the whole idea could be noted in the press release :-)
Unless they object to that in which case they wouldn't be.


Yes, No, Maybe? Definite Maybe?

Jiri
- --
If you want an answer, please mail to <jirib@cs.monash.edu.au>.
On sweeney, I may delete without reading!
PGP 463A14D5 (but it's at home so it'll take a day or two)
PGP EF0607F9 (but it's at uni so don't rely on it too much)

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