Recently the BusinessWeek blog invited readers to "rewrite a BusinessWeek story...Rewrite that paragraph, including it, and make sure that the paragraph still flows well into the following one. Then, somewhere in the article, find an the same amount of text to cut, so that the story still fits in its space."

And then, like an early Christmas present, the magazine published a short piece on podcasting that summarized the history of the medium thusly: "But in July, 2004, so-called podcasting software released by former MTV VJ Adam Curry democratized radio and let loose a wave of dormant creativity."

Knowing what we know -- and given that nice invitation from the blog -- this just begs to be rewritten. Let's have a contest for the best rewrite (since this is what I do for a living, I won't play). Winner gets an EdCone.com virtual totebag!

Comments

[Dave Winer]

Ed, sometimes articles are so utterly wrong they need to be cancelled, and replaced with something based in reality. Before we turn this into a game, let's pretend we're pros for a minute, and look at the issues raised by these two pieces, as they ran, not as we wish they would have run.

Didn't they see the reports of the scandal last week? Couldn't have run some kind of disclaimer, at least on the web version of this story?

There's no question there's a doubt cast on Curry's claims. Does BusinessWeek really want to take sides in this? Why? Have they done enough research to justify it? Where is that research?

I think their world has changed perhaps more than they realize. In the past we'd have to swallow this kind of insult and wallow in our lack of power. I don't think we're so powerless anymore. Hey, maybe we'll find out.

My opinion, they owe us a retraction and an apology. I've given up any hope on getting a professional response from Podshow, they respond by character assassination. Now what will BusinessWeek do?

[David Boyd]

Say you’re crazy about heavy metal. Along comes some free MTV that makes it a snap to watch heavy metal all day. On a whim, MTV decides to start showing Duran Duran 24/7. What do they do with heavy metal? Put it on Saturday nights from midnight to 2 am and get Adam Curry and his fluffy hair and pleather jacket to host it and, within months, they have more than 10,000 weekly viewers. That number gets infinitely bigger when Rikki Rachtman takes over and Adam Curry is dispatched to the celebrity netherworld of "Hey, isn't that the guy who..."

Before last year, that would have been the stuff of daydreams. But in July, 2004, so-called podcasting software released by former MTV VJ Adam Curry and fluffy-haired host of Headbanger's Ball democratized radio and let loose a wave of dormant creativity. At the same time, millions of former pothead, heavy metal fans stared blankly at their computer screens. Adam Curry? MTV dude? Software inventor? Damn. Who knew?