ZDNET's version of Sun Story

Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 9:34 AM

H-1B and JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

The story on Guy Santiglia's court hearing has changed titles again.
ZDNET is reproducing the same story by Lisa Bowman and the title is:
"Sun wins ruling over H-1B law" at
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-985580.html.

So far we have had the following titles for this article:

"Former employee suffers setback in court" >>> this was the first
release
"Sun wins spat over H-1B law"
"Sun wins ruling over H-1B law"

As explained in the previous newsletter, Sun didn't win a victory. They
were guilty of LCA posting violations and the hearing is on appeal.
CNET's meta-communication was a subtle change in the tone of the
article in order to marginalize Santiglia's efforts to protect American
jobs.

Here is another conversation I had with CNET. They haven't responded to
my request and chose to keep the titles as is. If you care to share
your opinion with CNET go to:
http://www.cnet.com/aboutcnet/0-7251795-7-7460564.html
or
http://www.cnet.com/cnetsupport/contact/1,10161,0-3945,00.html?tag=dir

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Pelline
> Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 11:35 AM
> To: 'H1BNews'
> Cc: Scott Ard; Karen Said
> Subject: RE: CNET Response to Sun Story

> Thanks for your note.
> I investigated this and can assure you that we received no
> contact from Sun to change anything in the story.
> I'm sorry you didn't agree with the use of the word "spat" in the
> headline. The headline writer did not mean to diminish Mr.
> Santiglia's efforts in any way. I have discussed your concerns
> with all parties concerned.
> Thank you for your feedback and thank you for reading News.com.

Jeff,

It's obvious that the use of the word "spat" does diminish Santiglia's
efforts. I don't know if whomever changed the title meant to demean Guy
Santiglia but that is exactly what he/she accomplished. As you can see
from the dictionary definition of spat below, the use of the term is
derogatory. If that's not the effect you wanted to have with that
article then you might want to give that editor some remedial English
lessons. I see by using my LCA database at www.ZaZona.com/LCA-Data that
CNET hires H-1B editors. Could that be the problem?

Since CNET changes titles on a routine basis, I think this is a title
that needs to be changed. Your magazine does have a public
responsibility to report the truth without titles that mislead the
public.

Lisa Bowman wrote a fairly good article so why ruin it with titles that
actually contradict what she reported? I'm not even sure why CNET would
waste time writing about spats so in effect you are also demeaning
Bowman's efforts.

Rob Sanchez

Merriam Webster Dictionary

Main Entry: 4spat
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1804
1 : a brief petty quarrel or angry outburst
2 chiefly dialect : SLAP

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