Yeah. I looked at this one. The words "flatulent boosterism" come to mind.
<deconstruct_target:press_release>
It's a Cisco-sponsored report - ie, prove to the world that Australia's
going to buy more routers - and says for eg that Internet related businesses
are spending $28 billion pa, "rising to $49 billion by 2004". It's also a
derivative of a Cisco report in the US - IOW, here's the methodology, just
make the phone calls.
(a) Define Internet-related. (b) Some guesses from what ABS figures exist
(the most recent was 1999/2000) make 28bn hard to believe. Let's see: total
IT&T in Australia, accounting for inflation, rougly 70bn, so the
Internet-related sector = 40% of total IT&T in Australia. Difficult to
credit - unless "internet-related" is defined so broadly as to be
meaningless, in which case the report itself is worthless.
<deconstruct_target:media>
Watch, though, for how it's reported - bet it gets the straight treatment.
I'll even write the autocue text now: (note, my mistakes in this are
predictions of mistakes which will go to air tonight or tomorrow morning).
"A new report launched today by Senator Alston shows that the Internet makes
up as much as 4.3 percent of Australia's Gross Domestic Product. The report,
commissioned by dotcom powerhouse Cisco and conducted by the Allen
Consulting Group, claims the Internet contributed $28 billion to Australia's
economy last year..."
At which point I'll switch the sound off and return for the weather later.
Richard Chirgwin
-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Barry [mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au]
Sent: Thursday, 26 July 2001 15:39
To: link@www.anu.edu.au
Subject: [LINK] Australian businesses hooked on the Internet
>Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 14:00:07 +1000 (EST)
>From: owner-all@minister.dcita.gov.au
>subject: New Ministerial Media Release
>http: //www.dcita.gov.au/cgi-bin/graphics.pl?path=5874
>Sender: owner-all@minister.dcita.gov.au
>To: tony
>
>Australian businesses hooked on the Internet
>Australian businesses are reaping the rewards of using the Internet
>according to a report launched by the Minister for Communications,
>Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Richard Alston in Sydney
today.
>
>
>Media contact: Ian Hanke on 0438 640 335
>
>
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-- phone +61 2 6241 7659 mailto:me@Tony-Barry.emu.id.au http://purl.oclc.org/NET/Tony.Barry
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