Micsoft, slightly off subject, long

[mcrump@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Check this story out.  Kind of makes you wonder who
is controlling who doesn't it?

URL is http://www.netinsider.com/fwdthinking/041698fwdthinking.html


                       Microsoft's Propaganda Campaign: The
                       Best Press Money Can Buy?
                       (04/16/98)
                       By Brooke Shelby Biggs

                       The irony from Redmond just never stops.

                       According to highly sensitive, confidential
documents obtained by
                       the Los Angeles Times (more on that irony later),
Microsoft has
                       been planning an unethical media strategy to win
back the
                       public's good faith. Mind you, this is the good
faith Microsoft lost
                       after being accused of using business practices that
 were illegal
                       and, well, unethical.

                       Perhaps you should sit down while the shock wears
off.

                       This points up the real problem with Microsoft's
positioning itself
                       as a media company. If it owns the airwaves (or can
buy them),
                       it can manipulate public opinion.

                       The details of this covert PR campaign are
hilariously shocking.
                       Microsoft planned to commission news articles,
letters to the
                       editor, and op-ed testimonials, written by
Microsoft's own
                       spinmeisters, but signed and submitted by local
businesspeople
                       who would be paid for their efforts. All this
chicanery to create
                       the appearance of a vast grassroots groundswell of
public
                       affection for Microsoft.

                       No, really: Paid agents of Microsoft would fake
these heartfelt
                       expressions of brand loyalty and slip them past the
media
                       gatekeepers, and there they would be in the
newspapers on
                       breakfast tables nationwide. You can't buy
advertising that good,
                       obviously, or Microsoft would have done that
instead.

                       It lends a whole new meaning to the term "making
news."

                       How tough do you suppose it would be for Microsoft
to get these
                       stories on MSNBC or in Slate? And there have been
rumors
                       circulating within the print journalism crowd that
Microsoft might
                       be looking to buy several newspapers to expand its
media
                       empire. How handy might that be?

                       Yet even without these channels,
                       news organizations would certainly
                       bite if offered something other than
                       the "evil empire" spin from the
                       usual suspects in the software
                       business community. Of course,
                       the reason the pro-Microsoft perspective is so fresh
 and alluring
                       is because actual local businessmen don't feel that
way.

                       But the capper is that Microsoft's spokespeople
denied the plan,
                       then denied the denial. How very Microsoft.

                       If you think Microsoft would never be so brazen as
to control the
                       news, then have a look at the MSNBC website archives
 and
                       search on the words "Microsoft" and "antitrust." The
 top article
                       when I last looked was a soft-pedaled blurb about
the news that
                       12 states were on the verge of suing Microsoft
individually.
                       (Notably, the documents the LA Times uncovered
mentioned the
                       12 attorneys general of those states as primary
targets for the
                       PR campaign. It wasn't just public favor Microsoft
was
                       manufacturing -- it was legal hay.)

                       Better yet, try to find mention of the Microsoft
media blitz story.
                       Despite the fact the story was carried by both the
Reuters and
                       AP wires, CNN, ABC News, The Washington Post, and
dozens
                       of other mainstream news operations, Microsoft's own
 news
                       outlet stayed mum.

                       Yet the calmness with which the online media has
taken this
                       story is the most unnerving thing of all. David
Coursey,
                       commentator at ZDNN, had this blase question for
readers: "So,
                       Microsoft wants to encourage its friends to make a
loud noise on
                       its behalf -- do you really think Netscape hasn't
been trying to do
                       the same thing? Or any other group with interests in
                       Washington?"

                       Problem is, there's a big difference between
"encouraging
                       friends" and "pimping for lackeys." This was a plan
to deceive
                       editors and plant stories deceptively portrayed as
spontaneous
                       to create the false illusion of public support for
the company. It
                       wasn't just one guy asking his buddies to put in a
good word for
                       him.

                       It is an old ploy. The U.S. government (and probably
 dozens of
                       other nation states) has used it in its efforts to
turn Cubans
                       against Castro and Salvadorans against the
Sandanistas.
                       Sociologists call it "black propaganda."

                       From Paul Linebarger's 1948 study entitled
Psychological
                       Warfare:

                            Black propaganda operations, by definition, are
                            operations in which the source of the
propaganda is
                            disguised or misrepresented in one way or
another
                            so as not to be attributable to the people who
really
                            put it out.

                       Coursey's justification that "everybody's doing it"
ignores the fact
                       that what everybody does -- aggressive public
relations -- is
                       white propaganda. Microsoft's exposed plan was a
blatant case
                       of the black variety. It clearly planned to use the
media, which
                       trades on its objectivity, as a pawn for its own
ends by means of
                       deceit.

                       But I have to say that I got a chuckle out of
reading the story in
                       the LA Times. This is the newspaper that, under
cereal tycoon
                       Mark Willes, has decided to merge the advertising
and editorial
                       sections of the newspaper, subordinating news
judgment to the
                       bottom line. Each section actually has to account
for profit and
                       loss. If a story about George Michael's spanking the
 monkey in a
                       public restroom makes more papers fly off the
shelves than that
                       downer story on Bosnian atrocities, well then, Wham!
 There's
                       your lead story. Selling editorial space is a
heartbeat away.

                       The LA Times and Microsoft's marketing department:
two peas
                       in a pod. Stay tuned for updates on merger
negotiations, and
                       imagine


+---
| This is the Midrange System Mailing List!
| To submit a new message, send your mail to MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com.
| To unsubscribe from this list send email to MIDRANGE-L-UNSUB@midrange.com.
| Questions should be directed to the list owner/operator: david@midrange.com
+---