<nettime> Re: I strongly disagree with your policy

[Melissa Byrd <mbyrd@foretec.com>]

Dear Geert,

Richard Perlman, ISOC-VP for Conferences, has responded to your concern in 
the letter below. I sincerely hope this clears up the apparent confusion. 
Any further comments regarding this matter may be directed towards Mr. Perlman.

Sincerely,
Melissa Byrd
Marketing Communications

To all those concerned with issues regarding Press Passes for INET2002:

This morning I have been able to assemble what I think is a complete account
of the issues surrounding the request for Press credentials for the Amateur
Computerist. The rest of this letter outlines what I have learned and my
response to the situation.

The request for two press passes for INET2002 from the "Amateur Computerist"
was received by Foretec on May 19th. At that time (less than a month before
the conference) Press Credentials had already been issued to 46 persons from
31 different organizations. Note that contract between ISOC and Foretec
specifies an explicit limit of 50 press passes for the conference. Four
passes were being held in reserve for last minute requests from major media
organizations (Network/National TV, Radio etc.).

After speaking with the people at Foretec who are managing press
credentials, it is clear that what they had intended to state in their
letter to Amateur Computerist was that the remaining passes were being
reserved for high visibility organizations. It is unfortunate that the
message created the incorrect impression that this selectivity applied to
all 50 passes - it clearly did not, as can be seen from the list of
organizations below. People working long hours do sometimes make mistakes.

Both Foretec and ISOC apologize for any confusion that may have been caused
by the wording of the e-mail response to the Amateur Computerist. An offer
to be placed on a waiting list was extended to the "Amateur Computerist, but
no response to that offer, or for that matter, any other message has been
received from them by either by Foretec or ISOC.

I can also report that the information and opinions regarding past
involvement of Amateur Computerist or the principals of that organization in
previous INET conferences was not known to Foretec and did not play any part
in the decision to deny the request for press credentials. After reviewing
the correspondence between Foretec and the Amateur Computerist, I am
convinced that the decision to deny the press credentials was correct, based
on the small number of passes available at the time of their request and the
information provided by Amateur Computerist about the nature and
distribution of their work.

Accordingly, while I do apologize for the misunderstanding created by the
letter to the Amateur Computerist, it is my opinion that this matter was
otherwise handled fairly, objectively and appropriately by the Foretec
staff.

Richard Perlman
ISOC - VP for Conferences
List of organizations issued Press credentials for INET 2002
============================================================
Associated Press USA
CIO Radio and Magazine USA
CNET News USA
Diario ABC Color Paraguay
Direction Informatique et Les Affairs Canada
E-Commerce Magazine India
Europe Magazine EU
eWeek USA
Financial Times USA
Focus Magazine Germany
Foreign Policy USA
Government Computer News Washington DC
Himalmedia Publications Nepal
Hosting Tech USA
Howard University TV Washington DC
Information Services International - Dentsu, ltd. Japan
Internet News Italy
InfoWorld USA
ISOC's On the Internet International
Network World USA
New York Times USA
Newsweek USA
Perl Magazine India
Radio Netherlands Netherlands
San Jose Mercury News Silicon Valley
The Sunday Tribune Ireland
The Washington Post USA
WAMU- Press Washington DC
Washington Internet Daily Washington, DC
Washington Technology Washington, DC
WIRED / Politechbot.com USA/Washington, DC

At 03:11 PM 6/2/02 +1000, geert lovink wrote:
>From: "Ronda Hauben" <ronda@ais.org>
>To: <nettime-l@bbs.thing.net>
>Sent: Sunday, June 02, 2002 5:06 AM
>Subject: <nettime> Internet Society denies press pass to Amateur Computerist
>
>I thought this would be of interest to nettime readers.
>
>The Internet Society is having a conference INET'2002 in Washington DC
>in the middle of June. Following is some backgound on the reporting
>about the Internet by the Amateur Computerist, and the denial of
>press credentials by INET'2002 to Amateur Computerist editors.
>
>The business press is welcome at INET'2002 as press, not the online
>public interest press.
>
> >From jrh Sat Jun  1 11:14:04 2002
> >Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2002 11:14:03 -0400 (EDT)
> >From: jrh@ais.org (Jay Hauben)
> >Subject: ISOC denies presspass
>
>The Amateur Computerist began covering the online world in 1988. In
>September 1993 when the Wall Street Journal was going to carry one of its
>first articles about the Internet, its reporter interviewed one of the
>editors of the Amateur Computerist. In 1992 another editor, Michael
>Hauben, was one of the founding members of the Internet Society. The AC
>has covered the Internet and Internet related events in depth. Its
>reporters attended and reported on INET96 and INET98. Extensive coverage
>and criticism was given of ICANN. One of our editors, Ronda Hauben, has
>been invited to speak about Internet related topics in many
>venues including at a meeting of ISOC-NY.
>
>All of the AC reportage comes from the viewpoint that the Internet is
>a public treasure and needs the protection of the governments of the
>world. But the AC welcomes a spectrum of viewpoints.
>
>But somehow the AC does not belong at INETs any more. The coverage of
>INETs should be the exclusive domain of the mainstream media not the
>public oriented media like the Amateur Computerist.
>
>The following email message was the response I received to the Amateur
>Computerist's request to cover INET2002.
>
>Jay
>The latest issue of the Amateur Computerist Vol 11 No 1 is available at:
>
>http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/text/acn11-1.txt
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>From: Melissa Byrd <mbyrd@foretec.com>
> >>To: Jay Hauben <jrh29@columbia.edu>
> >>Subject: Re: Press Passes Requested
>
>Dear Jay,
>
>Thank you for your interest in covering INET 2002.  Unfortunately, I
>cannot approve your request for an INET 2002 press pass.  Due the
>limited space this year, we must give preference to those media
>outlets with the broadest and largest audiences, such as Newsweek, The
>Wall St. Journal, CNET, etc.  However, I will put your name on our
>waiting list and contact you if there is a last-minute cancellation.
>
>We do value your interest in our conference and hope you are still
>able to attend INET 2002.
>
>Kind regards,
>Melissa Byrd
>Marketing Communications/INET 2002
>
>
>
>
>#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
>#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
>#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
>#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
>#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net

Melissa Byrd
Marketing Communications

Foretec Seminars
5 Commonwealth Road
Natick, MA 01760
(508) 650-4020 x224
MByrd@Foretec.com

Register today for INET 2002!
www.inet2002.org

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net