My email to John:
John,
When you contacted me about the article you were writing about MythTV, you stated that it was about the community. After reading the article, it made it sound like the community was a pack of thieves. This has cause a great stir in the community. Many, myself included feel the article protraits us in a bad light. Having been a member of the community for well over a year, I can say without reservation that this isn't the spirit of the community. The development community around MythTV works on it because we feel there is a better way. The program "Videora" isn't a MythTV module, it doesn't even run on Linux. Prior to reading your article, I had not even hear of Videora. While the past cannot be undone, I feel the least you can do is personally apology to the community.
Regards,
Cecil Watson
His response:
Hi Cecil,
Although I don't specifically remember saying it was about community, I
totally agree with you. I was tremendously upset with the title and the top
of the story, which is not what I had reported. It represents the danger of
working with another reporter who has a very different view of the world. My
original charter had been to find out how hacking (in the good sense) was
changing TV. That is what I reported. That is not what appeared in the
article. The problem was complicated by the fact that I was traveling to Europe
during the time the piece was written and edited. It was largely a fait
accompli by the time I had arrived and gotten over jet lag.
That said, that is not an excuse. I was totally shocked by the headline.
I did write that Isaac was a "rebel," but once again I didn't mean it in the
thief sense of the word. And I attempted to correct some of the material
about not needing set top boxes after that, but was ignored.
Anyway, if you go back and look at my stuff over the years, although
I've been attacked by the Kevin Mitnick crowd, I think you'll see that I
have been very supportive of the real hacker community.
I understand that the damage has been done, so please apologize to the
community on my behalf. I will try to rectify it in the future.
Best,
John Markoff
--- Begin Message ---Hi Cecil,Although I don't specifically remember saying it was about community, I totally agree with you. I was tremendously upset with the title and the top of the story, which is not what I had reported. It represents the danger of working with another reporter who has a very different view of the world. My original charter had been to find out how hacking (in the good sense) was changing TV. That is what I reported. That is not what appeared in the article. The problem was complicated by the fact that I was traveling to Europe during the time the piece was written and edited. It was largely a fait accompli by the time I had arrived and gotten over jet lag. That said, that is not an excuse. I was totally shocked by the headline. I did write that Isaac was a "rebel," but once again I didn't mean it in the thief sense of the word. And I attempted to correct some of the material about not needing set top boxes after that, but was ignored. Anyway, if you go back and look at my stuff over the years, although I've been attacked by the Kevin Mitnick crowd, I think you'll see that I have been very supportive of the real hacker community. I understand that the damage has been done, so please apologize to the community on my behalf. I will try to rectify it in the future. Best, John Markoff ============================================================= John Markoff Voice: (415) 836-6700 West Coast Correspondent Cell: (415) 606 0126 New York Times 201 Spear St. #1560 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] San Francisco, CA 94105 http://www.nytimes.com ============================================================== > From: Cecil Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:21:48 -0800 > To: John Markoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: "Steal This Show" > > John, > > When you contacted me about the article you were writing about > MythTV, you stated that it was about the community. After reading the > article, it made it sound like the community was a pack of thieves. > This has cause a great stir in the community. Many, myself included > feel the article protraits us in a bad light. Having been a member of > the community for well over a year, I can say without reservation that > this isn't the spirit of the community. The development community > around MythTV works on it because we feel there is a better way. The > program "Videora" isn't a MythTV module, it doesn't even run on Linux. > Prior to reading your article, I had not even hear of Videora. While > the past cannot be undone, I feel the least you can do is personally > apology to the community. > > Regards, > > Cecil Watson
--- End Message ---
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