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To: Patrick Slevin who wrote (38976)	4/10/1998 8:51:00 AM
From: SE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 58727

Patrick, The good thing about Barrons, is that those of us who know you pick up a copy to see your latest thoughts when we are unable to log onto SI and see for ourselves first hand. We know you don't get the credit you deserve from them, but we also can read it cover to cover and high-light exactly what you spoke! :) It is a good trick for those of us in the know. Don't tell anyone, or everyone will do it. -Scott PS - Maybe I should call Barrons for and receive my fee now that their sales are going to go through the roof!

To: Patrick Slevin who wrote (38976)	4/10/1998 9:30:00 AM
From: Darth Trader	Respond to of 58727

Drudge Report Blasts MSFT PAPER: MSFT MEDIA BLITZ TO CREATE LOOK OF PUBLIC SUPPORT Friday's LOS ANGELES TIMES has obtained internal confidential documents from MICROSOFT that show the software giant has "secretly been planning a massive media campaign designed to influence state investigators by creating the appearance of a groundswell of public support for the company." TIMES reporters Greg Miller and Leslie Helm shock with the elaborate plan of media control involving "the planting of articles, letters to the editor and opinion pieces to be commissioned by MICROSOFT's top media handlers but presented by local firms as spontaneous testimonials." The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that according to the documents obtained by the TIMES, in a story now set for Page One of Friday editions, local PR agencies will begin placing opinion pieces to the media next week, in a first wave of the "Microsoft multi-state plan." The newspaper report reveals: "Opinion pieces are to be written by free-lance writers, and perhaps a 'national economist,' according to one document. The writers would be paid with costs 'billed to MICROSOFT as an out-of-pocket expense.'" Sources close to MSFT tell Miller and Helm that the campaign is a result of the company's "growing fears that it is being outgunned in the media by rivals and perhaps even hostile state officials." "They're trying to plant stories about how wonderful it is to do business with Microsoft," one unnamed source tells the TIMES. The stated targets of the campaign are attorneys general and politicians in 12 states that may be considering antitrust action against the giant, reports the paper. Costing millions of dollars, the goal is to generate positive public relations at critical junctures in MSFT's various legal battles. MSFT spokesman Greg Shaw, whose name appears throughout confidential documents, initially told the paper that he was unaware of such a plan, later amending comment, acknowledging that the plan exists, but saying it is "merely a proposal and 'not something we are moving on.'" But the TIMES goes deep on a meeting held in Chicago earlier this week attended by many, if not all, of the regional coordinators allegedly involved in the blitz that is designed to appear not as a major thrust by MSFT, but as a spontaneous eruption of grass-roots support. Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley tells the TIMES: "It represents arrogance, and it's personally demeaning to me. Bill Gates would have been better off if he or one of his representatives had picked up the phone and called me." KAPOW!