Date: Sat, 17 Apr 1999 07:47:26 -0600 From: Donald Wilde <dwilde1@thuntek.net> To: paul@originative.co.uk Cc: jkh@FreeBSD.ORG, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Somewhat in my own defense Message-ID: <371890EE.4EC52031@thuntek.net> References: <A6D02246E1ABD2119F5200C0F0303D10FED6@octopus>
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[trimmed cross-post] paul@originative.co.uk wrote: > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: jkh@FreeBSD.ORG [mailto:jkh@FreeBSD.ORG] [snipped again] > Jordan, I don't think anyone will dispute the effort you put into supporting > the project. However, I do think there are some things you could do > differently when talking to the press. > > Journalists like two things. > > 1) Ready made press releases, generally a small bit of prose that makes a > single point clearly that they can more or less cut and paste into their > publication without too much work. Journalists like to minimise their work > (who doesn't). > 2) Overly stated answers that can be pruned down a lot during editing to > suit the slant that the author wants to take in the article. > Let me accept a little of the workload here. I am going to be focusing on generating written press releases and soundbite material to feed to the media. > It's point 2 that you fall foul of and that's where the criticisms from > within the group stem from. You just shouldn't say things like the above. A > single one line response such as "yes we'd love companies to port their > products to FreeBSD" should be the correct reply. It can't be turned around > into anything else but it doesn't in any way burn bridges with other groups. > Besides, it's lot of work. I watched Jordan talk for 20 minutes with the guy from Upside, and all we got was a measly 2 pages, most of which was the journalist's interpretation. > Similarly, "our main strength is the server market" is a good quote, there's > no reason to say "we've conceded the desktop market to Microsoft", that's a > negative point not a positive one and can easily be turned around out of > context in an article. > As a Libertarian (Large 'L'), I've had to deal with twisted non-quotes a lot, everything for "you want to give our kids drugs!" to "you want to kill babies!" I hope it's given me the wisdom to keep my mouth shut except in very carefully crafted ways. The more I can do of _successful_ PR, the less Jordan will feel the need to "do SOMETHING, ANYTHING!!!" to get press for FreeBSD. -- Don Wilde "Bringing the Internet to everyone!" Wilde Media 1380 Rio Rancho Blvd. SE #117 voice: 505-771-0709 Rio Rancho, New Mexico 87124 e-mail: dwilde1@thuntek.net To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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