Dealing with the Press

This is getting ridiculously off-topic -- which is supposed to be vintage computing. However I can't sit here and let all this bullcrap fly by my screen without defending my profession. Yes, there's a LOT of bad journalism, and a lot of propoganda disguising itself as journalism. But there are a lot of bullshitters and pretenders in ANY field. And in any field, it's a sad reality that those who suck make the good ones look bad. The vast majority of American news reporters are perfectly competent, conscientious, upstanding citizens, who've chosen the field because they want to make a difference in their communities. If one such reporter stumbles on someone's vintage computer collection, and decides that it might make an interesting human interest story, then for Pete's sake, EMBRACE THAT. Conversely, being obnoxious, uninformed, and snobby, are some of the qualities that make the mass public distrust computer nerds just as much as they generalize the media or lawyers or politicians or health insurance companies or energy firms. Now, I ** know ** most computer nerds are NOT obnoxious, uninformed, or snobby. I know most truly care and want to make the world a better place. And I know this because I'm ONE of them, in my spare time. But as a reporter in the daytime, I feel the exact same way toward that responsibility. So please, fellow vintage computer fans, stop this obnoxious, uninformed, and snobby (and just plain stupid) press-bashing. A sad event at The New York Times or muckraking from centuries ago has 100 percent zilch to do with the honest, curious, blue-collar community newspaper reporter who just thought our neat little tech collections were interesting. Of course I shouldn't judge ALL computer collectors by the emails of so very few (see the point?)