At that recent conference in New York, John Koskinen had some very interesting quotes. Goal of the conference: educating the media to report the story without panicking the public. I'm seeing happy face stories in one of our major metros. Think we'll see more of them as a result of this conference. You can read all about it at:

http://y2ktimebomb.com/DSA/VP/vp9911.htm

Cheers!

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), March 17, 1999

Answers

We've come to a low state when the government holds a seminar to "educate" the media on how to report. I'm a journalist with nearly 20 years in the business, and were it not for the fact that there are still a few good ones around, I'd be ashamed to admit it. A free and independent press is a necessity in a free country, and we have neither today.

"Given the choice between a government and no free press and a free press and no government, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter."--Thomas Jefferson

-- Vic (Roadrunner@compliant.com), March 17, 1999.

Our local paper is happy to publish any and all hey-Y2K-is-for-real letters, but steadfastly refuses to investigate, even though our monthly meeting dates/agenda are published and attended by city officials.

Our mayor GI big time, but every single bit of dissemination only comes about via our civic meetings.

Maybe this month we'll demonstrate enough turnout to warrant some reporting.

-- Lisa (lisa@work.now), March 17, 1999.

Here's a related thread. Note that Carol posted another link in this thread that is very interesting reading. <:)=

Media told to kool it on Y2K bank reporting

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), March 17, 1999.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

DATE TITLE

16-Mar-1999 FAA assurances on computer bug draw skepticism 16-Mar-1999 Temporary Y2K fix popular, but works only for 30 years

14-Mar-1999 Y2K won't be problem for computers in today's cars

14-Mar-1999 Fund companies spend millions more on Y2K preparations

12-Mar-1999 BUSINESS BRIEFING: SAN DIEGO AND CALIFORNIA (Very short blurb about assurances made by PacBell and SDG&E at County Y2K Summit)

08-Mar-1999 WORK WEEK | BULLETIN BOARD: More Y2K problems (Re: potential problems with employee benefits calculations)

06-Mar-1999 Navy has smooth sailing in test for Y2K bugs

05-Mar-1999 Utilities, major firms say `Y2K bug' won't be lethal

Note that there is no story in the past 2 weeks (and has not been any mention at all in the U-T) of the CA Auditor's findings and the reality that CA's Y2K program is in very deep yogurt. Both the SF Chronicle and LA Times have carried the story, but not the U-T. Ostrich behavior...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), March 17, 1999.

Barely mentioned it until the new year. Started with a listing of how far all the cities in the county have gotten and their budgets, how much spent, how much not yet. Ever since then, the articles have been appearing about two to three times a week, with the latest being on the problems of windowing as a short-term fix which can cause further problems as various institutions communicate with one another.

-- Maria (encelia@excite.com), March 17, 1999.