Kristan,

You asked me some time back about some advice on CTW. Well, from painful
direct experience, try this:

1. Don't expect good will, support, indeed anything much at all from people
within the industry if you treat them as I was in this week's interview.
For your own sake, never ever try that with anyone again -  rapidly, people
will learn not to trust CTW. Without people's trust, your function erodes to
merely printing press releases.

2. Don't allow quotes to be mangled, points to be taken out of context, and
seemingly "questions" to be re-written after the event by a smart arse
writer. If pieces are Q&As, make it clear where there are edits. Better
still, avoid Q&As - they're lazy regurgitations; information without
context.

3. Don't publish non-objective pieces framed by value-judgements and
pettinesses.

4. Do remember that you are the Editor, and can reject content, check facts
and request rewrites. Acting as someone else's noticeboard is not smart.

5. Do make sure you beef up your legal protection. (I have no intention of
sueing, nor will Future. But other companies aren't so benign. You really
have to understand what a tightrope you're treading. If you don't, someone
somewhere will have a go - and win heavily...)

6. Don't take the piss out of company's logos. Personally, I don't esp
object to this one on Future. But others here do - and many more will in
other companies.

7. Remember to be fair, particularly to companies where you haven't been
and/or have been spectacularly wrong on recently (aka, Rob Fahey's
editorial, trading off plain stupid, deeply libellous Internet speculation).
This piece was an opportunity for you - and you missed it.

8. Do protect your credibility at all times. At a time when CTW is getting
caned by MCV, the last thing you want to do is run a piece like the one on
Future which damages your credibility extraordinarily to the very group of
people who are likely to comment on it - journalists. And no, I don't just
mean ours. Reactions spread fast: this piece has damaged us (well, me
personally!) but we're big guys; but it's also damaged CTW. You just can't
afford that.

And of course, none of this is for publication.

Sorry this isn't especially constructive. At least be happy I didn't phone
up to rant.

Regards,

Greg

Greg Ingham
Chief Executive
The Future Network, plc