Steve, or Jed
Any speculation as to why 60 Minutes has decided, now, to do an
article on this subject?
From the micro view :
CBS began "investigating" about one year ago. My guess is that Energetics
or someone representing Energetics pitched the story to CBS. Why? Because
about half a year before that, Dardik called me up on the phone and asked
me to do drum up some media attention for him. I said, uh...I think you
have a misunderstanding about my role here... Godfrey (his wife) then got
on the phone with me and explained they were trying to get some mainstream
media recognition to give a boost to Kimmel's confidence in their work. I
told them that I think you need to find a PR guy and I turned down their
request.
I have to say that CBS appears to have taken good care to pick someone to
spotlight the subject for them - Duncan. He was recc. by the APS...he has
an excellent fit of skills for the task. Duncan had a gap in his schedule
before signing on at U.Missouri in which he was able to devote a few weeks
to his investigation...that occurred in October.
From there I can only guess that they wanted to synch with the 20th
anniv. They had wanted to run the piece a week or two ago but other
stories pre-empted it.
But from the bigger perspective Steven, yours, as is often, is an astute
question. Aside from CBS giving a boost out Energetics
(http://newenergytimes.com/v2/commerce/energeticstech/ET60MinutesPressRelease.pdf),
I was not able to answer this question in my article although my editor
asked me to. What is going on? Why now? Why the ACS interest? Why the TV
interest a few weeks ago? My guess is that the answers to your questions
below are all correct. My answer to my editor was "ask me in five years
from now and we'll probably have sufficient hindsight."
Was there a specific tipping point, or have
they been quietly watching this field for some time now. Cumulative
effect?
I would love to know whom they have interviewed. Guess we shall soon know.
I think your question is, who did they get on camera, rather than "just
spoke with."
At a minimum, "on camera":
McKubre
Fleischmann
Violante
Richard Garwin
Rob Duncan
My sense is that it will probably be a positive installment. 60 M
often seems to side with the underdog.
We''ll see what Garwin comes up with for his next excuse to
avoid/evade/deflect/deny excess heat....
But I think you already know their angle from their announcement
today...posted in the heading just now of my story...
http://newenergytimes.com/v2/news/2009/60MinutesTurnsUptheHeat.shtml
Steve
