Fortune Talkback: “Web pioneers are back, but not together”

I dont understand the postby Minor. Did he reneg on his gift to Uva or not? and what does he mean by bow-tied southerners?

Please look out for a response I intend to place on a more highly trafficked site in the future in response to this story.

I could spend paragraph after paragraph pointing out the factual inaccuracies of this story and inaccuracy by innuendo but it would be a waste of time with the exception that the central premise is false and that Shelby and I remain close friends, a rare feat for business partners who work together for 8 years. The article should have celebrated one of the web’s most successful partnerships but clearly that was not its intent.

At first Fortune refused to allow me (or anyone) to post here and I appreciate there relenting and allowing posts on this story as they do on all others.

This reporter and editorial staff made me realize that something has truly changed in media and that change is going to create a new sense of accountability in journalists (whether they like it or not), something we have always wanted but have not known how to create without impinging on the first amendment.

As a fun project I suggest you read the sentence, “A UVA spokesperson concurs that the project was killed and says Minor’s gift is one of only two in history in which no contract was signed.” Think about what it implies but does not say, and then read it literally and see if you can understand why it actually is completely nonsensical. It is pure innuendo. You can actually figure out why its completely wrong without even calling UVA or any other university that puts out proposals for giving.

Anyway I will have much more on this topic at a later date. There can be no doubt that mixing the web with old media will with greater frequency have catastrophic results for old media and their traditional ways of operating.

By the way where is Dan Rather working these days?

Many thanks.