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March 28, 2007

Microsoft Accidentally Sends Secret File On Journalist, To That Journalist. Oops.

Michael Arrington

42 comments »

Wired Contributing Editor Fred Vogelstein received an interesting and inadvertantly sent email from Microsoft’s PR firm, Waggener Edstrom. The contents of the email were Waggener’s internal notes on Vogelstein and how to work with him.

Vogelstein writes about this on a Wired blog, saying “as journalistic windfalls go this is about as good as it gets.” The entire file, in pdf, can be downloaded here.

I have to agree. There are thirteen pages of notes overall, single spaced. It includes recommendations on the proper handling of Vogelstein, including tidbits like:

  • “It takes him a bit to get his point across so try to be patient.”
  • “Fred’s questions went as expected with no surprises (transcript attached)”
  • “We’re pushing Fred to finish reporting and start writing”
  • “He is digging for tension where it does not exist. We have to be hard core on this point and communicate in no uncertain terms the level of executive commitment and support for Channel 9 and 10″
  • “tricky”
  • “digs for dirt”
  • “Recent articles from Wired journalists have positioned Microsoft in a somewhat skeptical light including criticism around Vista’s graphics card requirements and disadvantages of Soapbox including strict DRM”
  • “Wired also covered the “void” Robert Scoble’s departure in July 2006 left as the “face of Microsoft.””
  • “get a final gauge on where his head is at and reinforce one last time that we want to avoid any surprises with this story”

Waggener Edstrom President Frank Shaw responds here. Chris Anderson, Wired’s Editor in Chief, weighs in here.

I’m not appalled by this, and I’m not surprised by this. Waggener Edstrom is just doing what Microsoft pays them to do - deal with the press - and there is nothing wrong with keeping notes on journalists.

I have just one request, though. Since Frank Shaw says this is no big deal (my interpretation of his response post), can I have my file, too? I am interviewing Ray Ozzie at the keynote of the upcoming Mix ‘07 conference, and it would be nice to have a little background on my background. I wonder if it says “don’t mention Wikipedia at any time.” :-)

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 28th, 2007 at 12:26 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  1. pligg.com

    March 28th, 2007 at 4:17 am

  2. rogerd's notebook

    March 28th, 2007 at 5:42 am

  3. e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics

    March 28th, 2007 at 2:31 pm

  4. ShinyRed » Blog Archive » Microsoft sends journalist his own dossier

    May 23rd, 2007 at 11:46 am

  5. itjournalist.com » Journalist backgrounders

    April 29th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

Comments

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  1. Ryan Stewart

    March 28th, 2007 at 12:05 am

    Well said Mike. It isn’t appalling, it’s the way PR works. But I would love to see my file. Who do I need to bribe to get that :)

  2. Stan Schroeder

    March 28th, 2007 at 12:21 am

    This just confirms what we already knew:
    PR firms don’t know how to use e-mail.

  3. Justin

    March 28th, 2007 at 12:26 am

    Hahaha, that’s too funny. As a (much less important) working journalist than Mr. Vogelstein, I wonder if there’s any secret files about me out there. Hmm…

  4. David Scott Lewis

    March 28th, 2007 at 12:35 am

    It will be interesting to see what Steve Rubel has to say about this.

  5. Kewtr

    March 28th, 2007 at 12:39 am

    Yeah that’s embarassing as all get out, but nothing sinister. Just kind of pathetic.

  6. Kev

    March 28th, 2007 at 1:47 am

    I fail to see how it is “pathetic”.

  7. Speed

    March 28th, 2007 at 4:24 am

    The headline is wrong. The file was sent by Waggener Edstrom not Microsoft.

  8. Abdul Aziz

    March 28th, 2007 at 4:35 am

    This is very interesting….

  9. Mike

    March 28th, 2007 at 5:03 am

    I’m sure Fred Vogelstein has lengthy notes on everyone at Microsoft that he deals with. I just wish I could get an official document labeling me as “tricky.” :)

  10. quirkyalone

    March 28th, 2007 at 5:27 am

    Wasn’t that just a clever PR trick from Waggener? :-) Anyway, “The File” is more usefull/entertaining that the Wired story. :-)

  11. Jake

    March 28th, 2007 at 5:32 am

    As an ex-PR man, I am mainly impressed with Waggener Edstrom’s thoroughness at researching the jounro & prepping MS for the interview. But i do feel the extreme pain of whoever did that. The main rule of PR is to blame the journo when talking to the client and the client when talking to the journo. That person just did the equivalent of taking off all their clothes and running into the middle of no-man’s land…. ouch.

  12. Michael Markman

    March 28th, 2007 at 5:39 am

    To borrow a line they gave Claude Rains in Casablanca, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that PR is going on in here!”

  13. Robert

    March 28th, 2007 at 6:38 am

    Well, that commitment to transparency is certainly going well…

  14. rack pallet

    March 28th, 2007 at 6:43 am

    LOL ”transparency” that is a good one …

    - Things happen docs leak; and atleast it leaked to its owner not a competitor..

    -RB

  15. xxdesmus

    March 28th, 2007 at 7:22 am

    I am sorry, but what the hell is the problem here?

    A PR firm is supposed to take notes exactly like they have been doing. I don’t know people are getting their panties in a bunch because a PR (stands for Public Relations by the way) would keep notes on a journalist. If you think a PR firm shouldn’t be taking these kind of notes then you are naive.

    The only problem here is the fact that they are incompetent in terms of sending emails….big deal?

  16. Steve Kohler

    March 28th, 2007 at 7:32 am

    Wow. Seems like MS would have better security
    procedures and methods for themselves and
    partners. I guess they don’t.

    SK

  17. frank shaw

    March 28th, 2007 at 7:45 am

    Hey Mike, per my post, the “secret files” we keep are pretty straightforward– coverage, if applicable, recent interactions, and bio data from public sources. Your data comes from the interview you did w/ Sam Whitmore some time back….

    btw, you never took me up on my offer to meet when you were in the san juans…maybe a rain check at Mix?

  18. vanr

    March 28th, 2007 at 7:46 am

    Interesting, but not too revealing.

    I’ve never worked at a place that had a PR firm prepare me before an interview. I’m impressed by how well prepared Microsoft is for these interviews. They must be spending loads of money on PR.

    On the other hand, it’s a bit of a shame that their message is so heavily managed…

  19. Austin Storm

    March 28th, 2007 at 7:47 am

    This is hilarious! Everyone (including the Waggener folks) should have a good laugh about this.

  20. Rob Clark

    March 28th, 2007 at 8:18 am

    Actually Mike, while you were likely just being flip when you say “can I have my file too?” up here in Canada, Waggener would now have about 90 days to comply with your request.

    In a connected world, some things are best left unconnected. Rule of thumb is always “don’t write down anything you wouldn’t want to see in the hands of your mother or in a court of law.”

  21. n00b

    March 28th, 2007 at 8:51 am

    My condolences if Canada really has such a law, that sounds extremely shitty and Big Brother-ish.

  22. Dave McClure

    March 28th, 2007 at 8:57 am

    >>I have just one request, though…. can I have my file, too?

    Col. Jessep Microsoft: You want answers?
    Kaffee Arrington: I think I’m entitled.
    Col. Jessep Microsoft: You want answers?

    KaffeeJessep Arrington: I want the truth!
    Col. Jessep Microsoft: You can’t handle the truth.

  23. pr0xy k1ll3r

    March 28th, 2007 at 9:07 am

    Kudos to you..
    Made me laugh!

  24. Mark

    March 28th, 2007 at 10:15 am

    Haha..

    Kind of reminds me of the ” Oops I just hit reply all ” MS Office ads that came out a while ago..
    http://download.microsoft.com/.....ly_All.pdf

  25. Hal O'Brien

    March 28th, 2007 at 10:16 am

    Regarding your headline — To paraphrase from Mary Doria Russell’s novel, “The Sparrow”:

    The file was not assembled in secret. It was assembled in private. There is a distinction.

  26. waruwaru

    March 28th, 2007 at 11:26 am

    NoteToSelf: If you don’t know how to spell somebody’s name, don’t use the SendTo field to look up your address book.

  27. Lucie

    March 28th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

    I feel like I’m in a bad Southwest Airline commercial… Want to get away?

  28. pj

    March 28th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

    Wired also covered the “void” Robert Scoble’s departure in July 2006 left as the “face of
    Microsoft.”

    How about…

    Wired also covered the (son of a bitch) Robert Scoble’s departure in July 2006 left as the “face of
    Microsoft.”

    ;-)

  29. foxy

    March 28th, 2007 at 1:26 pm

    LOL, this is HILARIOUS. I work in PR for the same company as uberfamous mr. rubel and this is what we do… it’s contents are not a mistake– just that this man was moving too fast and sent it to a journalist!!! it is completely embarassing to say the least… LOL

  30. WhoMe

    March 28th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    Pretty standard stuff! All PR firms and departments in companies keep records just like this! It’s standard fare when you are asked as a product manager to do a demo. They give you a briefing book and in there you will find a report just like this for the reporter or analyst you are meeting with. Hey, pretty tame entries if you ask me! ;-)

  31. atlantic city

    March 28th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    Pretty funny stuff. I kinda wish people had a file like that on me. It would make my life much easier as I wouldn’t have to deal with BS that I don’t want to hear…

  32. xxdesmus

    March 28th, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    @ Steve Kohler

    “Wow. Seems like MS would have better security
    procedures and methods for themselves and
    partners. I guess they don’t.”

    I will go ahead and assume you don’t realize how a PR firm works (because otherwise you’re a moron).

    This has nothing to do with Microsoft leaking anything, this is Microsoft’s PR firm that messed up regarding their client, Microsoft.

    Stop talking out of your ass for the sake of trying to bash Microsoft. You only end up looking like a moron when you do that.

  33. XXANON

    March 28th, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    To Speed:

    The headline is correct. File was sent by Microsoft - not Waggener. Do your research.

  34. johnstodder

    March 29th, 2007 at 9:06 pm

    Just curious how you non-PR people reacted to the information in the document. It’s certainly not scandalous in any way, and any implication that it is are silly. What I’d be more curious to know is: Do you think this adds value? If you were an exec, would you want all this information? Could you absorb it?

    My reaction was it was way too much. An executive going into an interview needs a more focused document that tells him or her what he or she needs to know. This reminded me of that comment attributed to Mark Twain, “I apologize. I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn’t have time.”

  35. WD Milner

    March 31st, 2007 at 10:36 am

    This is more an embarrasement than anything else as both PR companies and journalists are aware that the other keeps profiles of correspondents/interviewees.

    To n00b: what’s Big Brotherish about a person having the right to see what information a company has on file about them? Dern good privacy protection in my opinion. And unless the file has been classified for reasons of national security or someething similar, the disclosure law applies to government departments too.

  36. mimi

    April 4th, 2007 at 1:07 am

    hey, thats cul , the jounalist will know better about himself here. rectify or implement whereever he wants to.. never take it seriously ya..

  37. Janet Meiners

    April 17th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

    This post brought back a memory of a much smaller email mishap that almost got me fired in 1996. I started an email that I was going to forward to a coworker with comments. In it I was complaining about my boss. I walked away and got distracted. When I came back to my desk I hit SEND and accidentally sent it to my boss.

    Somehow I talked my way out of being fired by being somewhat honest about the situation and apologizing sincerely.

    Wonder how this will affect their relationship! I hope someone has a good sense of humor. I always recommend applying ideas from the book, “The Likeability Factor” in cases like this. He’s going to need it.

    Janet

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