Lead In: Y2k is going to be smoooth sailing unless public panic sets in.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), February 20, 1999

Answers

Yeeeeeeeesssssss,...we do already know what the spin is to be, don't we?

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), February 20, 1999.

I think ABC has had the best Y2K coverage of any of the three networks. I've also noticed that TV coverage of Y2K doesn't usually include self-reported "happy face" press releases that newspapers seem more than willing to publish.

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), February 20, 1999.

Highlights: After a slow start the government is now fixing the problem. Planes will not fall from the sky, ATMs will work, and there will be power. (Why do these newscasters all use the same wording)

Gartner Froup thinks most fixes will work, small inconveniences, smooth sailing. All houselold appliances will work.

ComEd says power will be on. Bell South says we will have phones.

If you need more information go to MSNBC.com. It will tell you if your computer will be ok.

Slona Obrien did the reporting.

I am so RELIEVED. I have been so afraid and doing all this prepring. I should have just waited for this informative news report. HEHEHEHEHEHE>I am going to the store right now and get more soup.

Mama said never trust anyone that smiles all the time.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), February 20, 1999.

Thanks Linda, will watch when it hits CA.

BTW, The latest GAO Y2K report was announced but not yet available. Note: District of Columbia Remains Behind Schedule. Is that a happy face?

Diane

GAO Daybook - February 19, 1999

http://www.gao.gov/ daybook/990219.htm

The General Accounting Office (GAO) today released the following testimony and correspondence:

Testimony:

1. Year 2000 Computing Crisis: The District of Columbia Remains Behind Schedule, by Jack L. Brock, Jr., Director of Governmentwide and Defense Information Systems Issues, before the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, House Committee on Government Reform. GAO/T- AIMD-99-84, Feb. 19.

The report(s) listed above will be available soon both electronically and in print.

Please note: the release of a GAO report does not necessarily mean the report is immediately available electronically. GAO reports are uploaded to our WAIS database on GPO Access and to the Recent Reports list on our web site as soon as they are available electronically. Because GAO reports are often released by Congressional requestors, there may be delays in file availability. Also please note: Correspondences are not available in electronic form. If you do not find a specific file cited above, please try again later.

Search ...

General Accounting Office (GAO) Reports
Online via GPO Access

http:// www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces160.shtml

Recent GAO Reports list

http:// www.gao.gov/new.items/newtitle.htm

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 20, 1999.

This was copied from another link:

Well now, on ABC News, 6/p, Peter Jennings, good scary Y2K report re Russia. INDEFINITE POWER OUT prediction by Russian interviewee. ACCIDENTAL MISSILE LAUNCHES. NUCLEAR POWER PLANT MELTDOWNS. Severe humanitarian consequences. Guess what? Not sugar-coated, no pooh-poohs, not a single snicker. My oh my, the tone is changing. Got TP?

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), February 17, 1999.

doesn't it make you wonder why one network is controlling panic and another isn't watching it's p's and q's by giving us the unadulterated truth? I was dismayed that the networks haven't reported on the D.C. report. Any thoughts?

-- Diane (DDEsq2002@juno.com), February 20, 1999.

A legendary quote from Diane Sawyer: "We (journalists)are only as good as our sources." Sources tend to be public relations spokespeople from large companies who advise their on-camera spokespeople on exactly what to say during an interview. They even put them through media training to teach them the basics, which go like this: "Don't want to answer a question? Answer a different question (including the main point we want you to make--repeatedly-- in 10 seconds or less). The reporter may not ask you again, unless it happens to be Mike Wallace."

I have purses older than Soledad O'Brian

Kevin needs to email her his list of links of "Y2k for Newbies." Anybody know how to reach Kevin? I can't remember which forum to find him in.

Then again--might not do a bit of good. After all. . .NBC never aired the Jane Doe interview.

Sorry, but feeling a bit cynical tonight. Bracing myself for more happy face news and beginning to realize it's hard to trust anything anymore.

Comments anyone?

Have a great night.

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), February 20, 1999.

**I have purses older than Soledad O'Brian **

LOVE this, FM. And also the comment by Diane Sawyer about sources. My questions to the tv news readers are: How much of what you report do you believe? AND If you don't accept a particularly spin, why do you report it, other than to keep your job and sell out your integrity?

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), February 20, 1999.

Donna, the simple answer you asked of readers (I assume you mean anchors--and maybe even reporters) goes back to the Diane Sawyer quote: "We are only as good as our sources." Anchors don't always just "read" the news. Usually, they're responsible for writing/editing all or part of it. So will they read/report what they don't personally believe? Yep. Because it's all about attribution. They are reporting what someone in a position of authority told them. and that's what they are paid to do. It's called being objective. Otherwise, they'd be columnists. When's the last time you saw one of those on local TV (Besides the station manager with an opinion piece)? No columnists on national evening news, either. 'Just the facts maam. If the "source" says you can't hear a tree falling in the forest because nobody's there to hear it, it's a fact. You report it. Privately you might think it's horse-pucky (and discuss it heatedly with your newsroom colleagues) but publicly you report it.

Ooops--I forgot an exception! The time Linda Ellerbee accidentally sent out a personal memo on the wire (can't remember details, but they were hilarious. Ellerbee's one of my heros. Colorful as heck, (once through a tv through the window to get her husband to stop watching some dang sports event)and writes like a dream.

I think I also have sandals older than Soledad O'Brian, but she's sure a lot prettier than I.

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), February 20, 1999.

Ooops. That should have been "threw a tv." I don't spell check anything I write on this forum. In fact, I was born before spell checkers! I grew up with manual typewriters! As if you couldn't tell . . .

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), February 20, 1999.

I watched this report. After saying the FAA will be fine 'because they're spending millions of dollars ' and further reassuring the sheople that everything will be fixed for the same reason ie.$$$. They HAD to show a southern Church stocking canned goods. If there is a such thing as a generic y2k piece this would be it.

Remember (as FM pointed out) these are the people that refused to air the Anita Broadrick piece. They don't report the news they CENSOR it. My opinion ;-)

Diane,

That CBS piece was about Russia. We humans tend to think, it can't happen to us (especially in the gool ol' US of A). Just a thought. Actually FOX news (local) did o.k. a couple weeks back, however the Anchors were (almost)laughing. It was difficult to tell why. They either thought it was silly, or it was nervousness. I truly have never seen the same type of response (on the news) before.

I too have been looking for mention of D.C., I'm still waiting.

-- Deborah (tossing@the.tv), February 20, 1999.

Sad Y2K reporting job. Of course, Gartner Group was featured.

Lets see. Thursday William Cohen meets with Bill Gates, reminding him the Pentagon is their ``biggest customer in the world.''

Microsoft basically owns MSNBC. Is there a vested interest in spin?

Diane

Article (stuck this on another thread -- bears repeating) ...

Cohen says high-tech industries should thank military for success

ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer
Friday, February 19, 1999

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ article.cgi?file=/news/archive/1999/02/19/national0134EST0459.DTL

(02-19) 01:34 EST REDMOND, Wash. (AP) -- Leaders in the high-flying information technology business have lost sight of the role America's military has played in their success, Defense Secretary William Cohen says.

``Some in the 'digital world' dismiss the importance of the national security world,'' Cohen told about 200 Microsoft employees in a speech on the software giant's suburban Seattle campus Thursday. Company Chairman Bill Gates, seated behind Cohen, cracked a paper-thin smile.

``Some soldiers in the high-tech revolution do not fully understand or appreciate the soldiers in camouflage,'' Cohen said, ``that tanks and guns are somehow rusty relics of the past, nearly obsolete in the new information-based world that is going to carry us into the future.''

Cohen said Microsoft -- whose biggest customer is the Defense Department -- has a healthy appreciation of the importance of American military power. But he complained about one unidentified industry official whose dismissive remark he had read in The New York Times.

He quoted the official as saying, ``Money is extracted from Silicon Valley and then wasted by Washington.'' Cohen said this attitude revealed a troubling lack of understanding of how the U.S. military's presence and influence abroad help the American economy.

``Indeed, peace and stability are the very cornerstones of prosperity,'' Cohen said. ``When our diplomats and military forces work together to help create stability and security in a nation or a region, that same stability and security attracts investment. Investment, in turn, generates prosperity.''

Introducing Cohen, Gates enthusiastically welcomed him as representing ``our biggest customer in the world.'' The Pentagon, whose network of more than 2.1 million computers is central to its military missions, buys $300 million a year in Microsoft products.

Gates said Microsoft is intent on working with the Defense Department to improve the security of its information from the threat of cyberterrorism. ``It's fair to say this is an unsolved problem,'' he said.

In his opening remarks Cohen noted how unusual it is for a defense secretary to visit a company like Microsoft. He said the usual itinerary for a visit to the Seattle area would center on a tour of Boeing Co., which ranks as the nation's No. 2 defense contractor. In fact Cohen did visit Boeing, then flew to Microsoft's campus by Army helicopter, an entrance that he said jokingly may have surprised and unsettled some workers.

``They probably thought this is 'Red Dawn,'' referring to the 1980s movie about a foreign army's invasion of the United States, ``or an invasion of the aliens,'' Cohen said to laughter.

This was the second in a series of appearances by Cohen before Americans outside the traditional circle of audiences for a Pentagon chief. Last month, he spoke to the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield, and he is considering speeches this year to the Kansas City Board of Trade, at New Orleans' City Hall and to the Arkansas Legislature.

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 20, 1999.