[vorbis] WSJ article

[Nils Philippsen]

On 15 Aug 2001 19:24:37 -0700, Craig Dickson wrote:
> Moritz Grimm wrote:
> 
> > Hm. I'm a little confused ... on the one hand we have a pretty good
> > article from a technical viewpoint (especially compared to some other
> > articles I read so far), on the other hand we have those moronic
> > implications about "OGG --> bad for Monty's social life" that has a bad
> > aftertaste. It almost sounds FUDdy for me. With Monty being the one that
> > keeps OGG alive these days, people are lead to be uncertain about OGG's
> > future. With the idea of OGG ruining Monty's life, this is even logical
> > to think...
> 
> No, I didn't think it read that way at all. It just sounded like Monty
> was so passionate about his project that other things fell by the
> wayside. Which apparently is not accurate, but it's not that uncommon a
> phenomenon with technological innovators, so the reporter probably
> thought it would help readers to associate Vorbis with other important
> innovations. In a way, it almost seems like a well-meant gesture, like
> she wanted people to think Vorbis is important by emphasizing how Monty
> (supposedly) poured his heart and soul into it no matter what the cost.
> 
> Similar, the lie about Monty working on a cheap folding table seems
> designed to emphasize the non-corporate, "for the people" aspect of free
> software. It says this isn't a product from some big, faceless
> corporation; it's the product, instead, of grass-roots enthusiasm and
> "good old-fashioned American know-how".

That's no excuse to me. I as a reader expect accurate investigation and
presentation of the facts in such an article and not twisting them until
they meet whoever else's needs. The purpose of journalism isn't to trick
readers to have a certain opinion about an issue, but to present facts
(and maybe an opinion on these as well) and let the reader form her or
his own opinion. I can accept the occasional glitch where a fact gets
misrepresented or understood wrongly or whatever, but intentional lying
insults me as a reader. Especially if it's not yellow press but an
otherwise reputable newspaper.

> I really don't see any hostility in this piece. If anything, I suspect
> that Mei Fong acted like she was doing Monty a big favor because, as she
> saw it, she was doing exactly that! She was trying to write a piece
> favorable to Vorbis and present a reasonably traditional image of Monty
> as a passionate, self-driven, garage-based technical innovator -- an
> image to which American readers respond favorably. The image doesn't
> necessarily fit him very well, but WSJ readers won't know that.

Again, if she thinks that journalism is about doing someone a favor then
she seems to have missed something. She should write fiction instead.

Nils

-- 
           Nils Philippsen / +49.711.96437.250 / nils at redhat.de
         Red Hat GmbH / Hauptstätter Straße 58 / D70178 Stuttgart
Petition for a software patent free Europe:
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