*BSD News Article 66734


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From: kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin P. Neal)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX)
Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy
Date: 22 Apr 1996 22:01:42 GMT
Organization: The House of RetroComputing
Lines: 94
Message-ID: <4lgvk6$enc@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>
References: <4ki055$60l@Radon.Stanford.EDU> <tporczykDq3C55.4zE@netcom.com> <4l96pm$mrt@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> <4lecrd$155@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4lg7al$ap4@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> <4lg85t$42f@news.hic.net>
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Charles A. Tilbury (ctilbury@hic.net) wrote:
: In article <4lg7al$ap4@nnrp1.news.primenet.com>, jstern@primenet.com says...
: >
: >Kevin P. Neal <kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu> wrote:
: >>Josh Stern (jstern@primenet.com) wrote:
: >
: >>: If the
: >>: business consumer cannot turn to PC Magazine,
: >>: Byte, or even the Wall Street Journal or
: <<<<snip>>>>
: >
: >>Unbiased journalism is a crock. It does not exist (as far as I can
: >>tell). 
: >
: <<<<<snip>>>>>
: > To take an analogy, if I claim the
: >problem with your bicycle is the friction caused
: >by the back wheel brushing against the mud guard,
: >it's not particularly meaningful to come back and tell
: >me that all wheels have some friction.
: >
: 
: Seems to me that the "bias" as it is used here referrs to 
: whether the "media" has an agenda or not.  If they have
: an agenda, any agenda, then I automatically invalidate 1/3 
: of what they have to say.
: 

Pretty much. There is also the problem of the journalist making
conclusions that are based mostly on his/her personal opinions.

Most of the world believes that PCs are the end-all be-all computer.
I once had a person ask me (concerning my Amiga) "Does it run PC
programs?" No "Well, does it run Mac programs?" Nope "Well, what
does it run?" Amiga programs. "Oh, really?" Sigh.

Most of the journalists I have been exposed to tend to write about how
people should buy a PC, I mean it works for them, right?

My Dad bought my brother a Win95 box for Christmas. Now Dad is learning about
all of the crap that Windows brings along with it. He asks me:
"So why do people put up with all of this?" Because, Dad, this is
*normal* to most people. 

Journalists included. You never ever hear about how, for example,
Plug and Play has problems. You never hear about how ISA is 15 years
old and should have been ditched 10 years ago. You never hear about
how PC Windows programs keep getting larger and slower. Because
the vast majority of users, journalists included, consider this to be
normal. What Free Unix needs is reporters in high places who support
our view. 

I tend to discount any media coverage of computers in general, they tend
to screw up. One local news channel had reporters on the scene with
a sattalite. link-up to bring the live pictures to the rest of the Triangle
area of people (Ohmygosh ohmygosh) BUYING the First copies of Win95! Whee!
As if it was exciting or something. She (the reporter) thought it was.

Another example of a local journalist saying something dumb:
This university (NCSU) has around 27,000 students. We have an extensive
Public Safety force, to the point where I (a male) feel perfectly fine
walking around on campus at 4 in the morning. 

Raleigh also was a police force (of course). A couple of years ago there
was a dispute about where the powers of the Police start and the Public
Safety end. The O-So-Wonderful idea presented by the Noise and Disturber
as a fact is this: Make PS officers able to only write tickets, force
them to call in the "real" police if there is a real violation of the
law. 

Huh? A journalist presents this idea pretty near the front page? What's
his angle? Or does he just not really understand what campus life is like?
No, I mean what it is like TODAY, not (sits down in rocker, groans) when
(in gravely voice) "I was in school, we didn't have ..." [you get the
point.].

I don't read the paper here, it's just full of inaccuracys. I wonder what
the angle of te person writing is. I wonder what is being left out. 
I wonder what the writer *wanted* me to feel by reading the news,
and that leads me to wonder if I am being manipulated. 

That's what I mean by news "bias". Sorry for being long winded. 
Oh, and this message was brought to you by my Windows 95 laptop,
an IBM thinkpad that doesn't run IBM's OS/2 because it doesn't work
very well on this IBM equipment. Also, I'm posting from a
Dec Alpha running NetBSD. Attribute typos to 95% OK Win95 vt100 emulation.
Attribute brainos to me being just 21, and raised in a small town.
Well, I'm in a city now, like it, and am in the process of getting out
from behind my computer. Scary, huh?
-- 
XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore, Comp. Sci. \    kpneal@interpath.com
XCOMM  Frue, Secret Agent of Smerp (shh!)   \   kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu
XCOMM Visit the House of RetroComputing at  /      Perm. Email:
XCOMM  http://www4.ncsu.edu/~kpneal/www/   /    kevinneal@bix.com