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Leaked Microsoft Dossier on Journalist
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Wed Mar 28, 2007 09:28 AM
from the i-see-you-have-bad-grammar-mr-bond dept.
from the i-see-you-have-bad-grammar-mr-bond dept.
Ludvig A. Norin writes "Wired journalist Fred Vogelstein blogs about how he accidentally got hold of a dossier on himself produced by Microsoft's PR firm, Waggener Edstrom. While it's not unusual for PR people to create background files on journalists, it's notable that this one leaked, and got commented by Waggener Edstrom's Frank Shaw and Wired Magazine editor in chief Chris Anderson. Makes for an interesting read — there's lots to learn from the inner workings of the Microsoft PR machinery." Someone please send me mine? I bet it's really friendly!
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Send in yours? (Score:5, Funny)
Leaks and PR (Score:3, Funny)
Not outsourced-- it's captive (Score:2)
Therein lies part of the problem: WE is captive to Microsoft.
It is, what it is.
One has to wonder..... (Score:5, Interesting)
That would be interesting to know IMHO.
Re:One has to wonder..... (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I think the great unwashed that forms the bulk of the Slashdot commentators (myself included) are largely ignored by the Microsoft PR machine. Although I'd love to hear otherwise.
Re:One has to wonder..... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:One has to wonder..... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes. That's out of shilling for corporations 101.
There are a lot of people here who shill for MS. Some are paid to do it, some do it because they work for MS, some do it because they love the corporation (for whatever reason).
Power Corrupts (Score:4, Insightful)
Sweet Jesus (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
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Well, I for one am absolutely, positively, most certainly NOT the Lord King Emperor of Denial and Enabling. So why don't you have a couple beers and forget all about this discussion?
Re:Power Corrupts (Score:5, Interesting)
I would hazard to guess that most people do not like to be manipulated. That we are manipulated on a daily basis is immaterial. It's one thing to know it happens. Having proof of it presented to you is an entirely different matter.
It would appear that this reporter feels the same way. Surely a reporter who's spent any time in the Industry is aware of the marketing machine fronted by Microsoft. And in fact, you can be pretty sure Vogelstein is aware of this routine manipulation since he's involved Wired's current cover on the subject. But having the manipulation strategy sent to you would be more than enough to generate an "us vs. them" mind set. And it seems that this has put Vogelstein in at least a slightly defensive mood. I'd feel the same way.
In the grand scheme of things, this isn't that big of a deal. But it does serve as an interesting footnote to Wired's cover. After all, Microsoft's PR efforts have put a lot of stock to this new transparency. Its worth noting that despite this impressive change, there are still mechanisms in place just out of plain view. As the tired adage goes, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."
The top 10 things you don't want to see... (Score:5, Funny)
10. Does not know what "checkdisk" is for.
9. Thinks WINNT is still useful.
8. Very Cheap: (s)he likes White Castle. Buy hamburger and get a nice article.
7. Cheap: (s)he likes Wendy's. See above. A tad more expensive.
6. Reminds me of RMS, only cleaner.
5. Reminds me of ESR. Gun nut.
4. Has a fanboy penguin T-Shirt, talks about Gentoo. Still uses WinME.
3. Steve Jobs byotch.
2. Dines with BillG and SteveB regularly. Treat with caution.
And the number one thing you don't want to see in your Microsoft PR Dossier:
1. Open Source Communist Agent. Terminate with extreme prejudice.
[Yes, this is a shameless attempt at being funny. Mod down accordingly.]
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:The top 10 things you don't want to see... (Score:4, Funny)
Let's compromise :
1. Open Source Communist Agent. Take out with extreme prejudice, using any furniture available (SteveB).
Yep, that sounds about right...
Hmm. Seems like most of it is public info (Score:2)
I thought they might be tapped his phone and what not when I saw the title but apprently no.
Maybe I'm just too close to the forest here but... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can only *wish* my PR and markettings guys did this good a job on their briefing materials before sending me into a room. I don't do much press, but I do the occasional analyst and a fair number of customers, and knowing the lay of the land before you walk into that room is critical.
Who in there is friendly?
Who in there is looking for an excuse to hate you?
What are folk's pet issues?
The more information you have, the better a job you can do with your pitch (and fundamentally most corporate to press communications are a pitch at some level or another). Once you reach a certain level in an organization though, you're sufficiently removed from the ground game that most pitches you walk into largely cold. The local rep knows what's going on, but you don't, so they have to brief you. All you know without a packet like this is that you've been flown out to Akron to talk to John Doe from ACME inc.
My underlying point being, I don't see anything remotely sinister here. Rather I see an efficient PR organization doing its job.
Re:Maybe I'm just too close to the forest here but (Score:3, Insightful)
And you're right, everyone does this. Do you think a politician just blindly goes into a press conference? Do you think a coach
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Re:Maybe I'm just too close to the forest here but (Score:2)
It *wasn't* a dossier on the journalist! (Score:4, Informative)
It's a bit chatty in places - and this sort of work will always be subjective - but it reads to me as a good professional briefing by an efficient PR outfit.
amen (Score:4, Informative)
I totally agree. My first thought, before even finishing reading the memo, was, dang, how do I get these people to work for me?
Makes me wonder whether the "leak" was accidental, or they were getting free publicity
Speaking of, if you like this stuff, you should watch the BBC sitcom Absolute Power [imdb.com].
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Quality assistants (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Quality assistants (Score:5, Insightful)
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Imagine the same feeling after you take a job with better benefits but less pay then a competing job only to find the better ben
Re:Quality assistants (Score:5, Funny)
Now if they'd put that much into their security...
Oh shit, that's going into my file isn't it?
Microsoft needs a good PR firm (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
good job at closing avenues (Score:3, Funny)
Briefing for your call with Wired is below. We want to keep it short and not offer any new avenues to him - Fred has done plenty of reporting here and it is time for him to stop and just write the article.
Microsoft PR Person:
Well, they were right! (Score:5, Insightful)
The PR guys did their damn jobs. Good for them. There was nothing sinister in there at all.
Oh finally ... (Score:2, Funny)
Where's the story? (Score:4, Insightful)
As has already been remarked by others above me there is nothing sinister about anything said in the briefing document. It's candid in places, perhaps a little chatty in others, but overall this what you should expect if not hope for in this kind of document. If a reporter has a history of "digging for dirt" then that's what the document should state.
It seems a bit disingenuous to me to take Microsoft to task over something like this when it is the standard practice in any PR-conscious company, you can bet that Wired probably has similar documents flying about that offered guidance about individuals in companies who are easier to coerce, more likely to reveal sensitive information, etc.
:O (Score:3, Funny)
Slashdot... (Score:2)
Waddya bet (Score:2)
It's not about products, it's about the *brand* (Score:5, Interesting)
What surprises me about this PR analysis is that none of it -- not one word -- is dedicated to selling the journalist on the quality of Microsoft's products. Not their web products, not their development environments, nothing. At a minimum, they could have said something like "Channel 9 will help us show developers how we make the best development products."
If you're going to make a video blog for developers, I'd think you would focus on the quality of your development products.
Instead, it's all a bunch of internal politicking about transparency and alleviating fear. Is that how Microsoft makes money these days? Selling transparency? Alleviating fear?
I think I've got some synergy and some new paradigms for sale too, guaranteed to be content-free.
Re:It's not about products, it's about the *brand* (Score:4, Interesting)
CmdrTaco's Dossier (Score:5, Funny)
Kudos to Mark Martin (Score:4, Interesting)
The only thing surprising to me about this "story" is that anyone is surprised to learn that Mark is just as good and thorough a researcher as the reporters he deals with all day long.
I would not be surprised to read one day that Mark has left Wagg-Ed and started his own PR agency -- and I would be even *less* surprised to learn that most of his clients were open source-based companies. He is often Microsoft's point man in their "Why proprietary software is better than FOSS" PR efforts, so he has an exceptional grasp of FOSS benefits. This knowledge will serve him well if and when he decides to leave the Dark Kingdom and join the Forces of Goodness.
- Robin
Microsoft forgot something... (Score:3, Insightful)
Q: Have your answers been scripted?
A: No, we here at Microsoft believe in spontaneity. It is the true source of our innovation.
Re:Memories! (Score:4, Funny)
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1747610 [collegehumor.com]
Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)
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/offtopic (sorry)
What exactly is this whole: 'Slashdot's dead' stuff all about? I'm really interested to hear what's so wrong with this place that you still grace it with your presence. A
Re:Mod Up, This Is So True!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Beats the hell out of me. I like it here too. The people that bitch about
Last, but not least, you've got the idiots who seem to think that ever since
I'll take this opportunity to welcome you here, as well as mention that we're not all crazy, there are a few pools of sanity in the great ocean that is Slashdot.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Mod Up, This Is So True!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Agreed. Nothing special here. A large number of Slashdot readers (myself included) don't mind being reminded from time to time that almost everything Microsoft does has a significant amount of skulduggery behind it. All companies seek to promote their products, all seek advantage over competitors, all cooperate with others only when it benefits them in some way. Microsoft it seems has made an art-form of doing maximum damage to others even when the resulting benefit to themselves is only minimal (if detectable at all). The company (seemingly) sees the world as a zero-sum game, they want all the marbles and want everyone else to have none, end of story. The Google motto "Don't be evil" is a direct reference to Microsoft. Even the company's (MS) most generous charity work (which hardly existed until the company had amassed more money than they knew how to spend) seems more like a trick to recover some level of respectability than a real attempt to do good. In a recent Dilbert cartoon (http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dil bert-20070316.html [dilbert.com]) Dilbert asks his boss "When we are done hosing our own company can we start hosing the competition?" His boss replies "Our customers are next". (It would have been funnier and more on-target if he has said something like "Our customers come FIRST!") But the message is the same, that there are companies, just as there are individuals who seem to delight more in doing harm to others than they do in doing good for themselves. Ballmer is rarely quoted as "Our product will be better", but instead likes to go on record saying "We will destroy them!". Any other company would have recognized him as a PR disaster long ago, but for Microsoft, his excesses go unnoticed as they would nowhere else. I found this quote from the PDF more interesting:
Now for the
My guess is that Slashdot readership is down, although I haven't seen any number on how much. It used to be the only thing of its kind, and quite frequently a link from a Slashdot story would take down, or slow to uselessness even fairly robust servers. Many forums have come and gone and had little impact on the size of Slashdot readership, but two things have recently (I'm guessing) for the first time had a noticeable impact: Digg, and the popularity of RSS feeds. About all I can say about Digg is that I tried it and didn't like it very much. I like having a top-level selection process for stories (even though I don't always agree with what Slashdot selects, or when) rather than the "pure democracy" approach that Digg takes (or pretends to take). I don't get my view of science from radio shows that run at 1AM, or my view of history from Oliver Stone movies, but my guess is that many Digg posters can't distinguish between "West Wing" and a documentary on the White House. People have been trying to "game" Slashdot for years, with mixed success, but in Digg they have found a system much easier to game, and by and large I think the typical Digg user is more interested in the game tha
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Most corporations aren't going into press meeting
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The will twist it into the perception of tension.
People like that are about noe step away from believing there is a world wi