Delivered-To: dfarber+@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 2003 14:20:07 -0800
From: Jim Warren <jwarren@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: Debunking Time censorship rumor (Was: why did TIME censor George
H.W. Bush's quotes from its web-site?!
X-Sender: jwarren@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@xxxxxxxx>, dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: bkoball@xxxxxxxx, russ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
At 4:36 PM -0500 11/11/03, Declan McCullagh wrote:
It is silly to claim that Bush Sr. and Scowcroft would strong-arm Time
Inc. into removing an article from time.com
Who's claiming that Bush Sr and/or Scowcroft strong-armed Time? I
certainly didn't. Of course it's available in their book, but as far as I
know, their book ain't online, and is thus FAR less accessible to the
nation and the world.
The question DOES remain -- WHY did Time delete this article only, from
their website, when it is clearly such a provocative commentary DIRECTLY
relating to one of the foremost issues currently impacting the world?
-- when that article was an excerpt from their book that you can buy
today from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679432485/002-4329529-5336027?v=glance
Unfortunately the Memory Hole (which has done yeoman's work in the past
documenting real instances of censorship) forgot to mention that.
The hell the didn't! Quoting from the bottom line of their second boxed
excerpt:
"the same passage appears on page 489 of Bush and Scowcroft's book, A
World Transformed (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998)"
Other explanations seem more likely. Perhaps the article was lost in a
redesign?
And perhaps cows CAN fly. Yes, that's POSSIBLE ... but hardly
likely. Otherwise, there would be some/many other -- less politically
sensitive -- articles that were also "lost".
Or perhaps Time Inc. inked a deal with the publisher that it would only
be available on time.com for a few years?
Now lessie ... is it really likely that Time ad publisher Knopf would have
done a contract that allowed Time to run the excerpts in print (widely
archived in thousands of libraries worldwide), AND allowed them to include
a copy of those excepts in their web archives -- from March, 1998, until
August or September of 2003 -- but then prohibit it? If so, it'd be one
of the most amazing publishing contracts I've ever heard of.
M'thinks yer stretching. :-)
--jim