Chickenshit?

Friday, April 27, 2007 by Dave Winer.

I got a call from Mary Trigiani on Wednesday night. A regular reader of this blog, Silicon Valley communication consultant, cookbook author, sister of a famous author, and friend.  

She had been at a conference on advertising in the new era, a panel discussion that included AlwaysOn publisher Tony Perkins and Kourosh Karimkhany from Wired Digital. The panel turned to the discussion that was brewing in our corner of the blogosphere about the role of sources and our relationship to reporters.  

Based on Mary's account I expressed optimism for how Wired was rising to the occasion. And it totally didn't surprise me that Perkins took a couple of personal and cheap shots at Calacanis and myself. 

One more loose-end to take care of... 

Last night, I said I might offer the email I sent to the Wired reporter, Fred Vogelstein, on April 24. The text follows. 

"I don't think you would have gotten anytihng from a phone talk with me or Calacanis. We do all our business via email, and in blog posts, and in comments.

"Go read Mike's Crunchnotes post. You'll see his view of the world. See my response, and that's how I push back against his view.

"The fact that all this exploded into Techmeme today made your story. Start reading, and post questions in the comments on all the blog posts that puzzle you. Make sure they know you're from Wired.

"If you're creative you'll get a wonderful story.

"Think of yourself as an American in Iraq." 

In other words, do research, the story is on the web, not the telephone.