Re: Stop fighting the inevitable - and free funds for open access!

From: Peter Banks <pbanks_at_BANKSPUB.COM>
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:40:06 -0500

It's unfortunate when serious and complex matters of public policy get
reduced to slogans. But, having treated themselves to a week of righteous
indignation--"media messaging, oh, the horror, the horror!"--OA advocates
may want to take a peek in the mirror.

Case in point: The OA public relations effort very cleverly pits this as a
battle of greedy publishers against sick and dying patients. Here's how Rick
Weiss of the Washington Post, feeding with abandon from the OA
media-messaging trough, put it last week:

"The venerable association of scholarly publishers, headed by former
Colorado congresswoman Patricia Schroeder, has for years waged an
intellectually nuanced battle against medical associations and advocates for
the ill."

Pat Schroeder attacks the disabled. Who knew? She seems so nice in person.

It turns out that "medical associations and advocates for the ill," however,
means primarily ONE association--the Genetic Alliance, the umbrella group of
organizations representing genetic disorders and headed by OA ally Sharon
Terry. I admire Ms. Terry greatly, but she by no means represents more than
a tiny fraction of "medical associations and advocates for the ill." In
fact, among the members of the National Health Council, which represents the
major U.S. health associations, only one large organization, the Arthritis
Foundation, has endorsed OA (and that just might be because one of OA's top
lobbyists is a former Foundation executive).

So, sorry, much as I dislike media oversimplification, I can't get too
worked up about pit bulls trying to correct the impression that Pat
Schroeder beats up sick children.


Peter Banks
Banks Publishing
Publications Consulting and Services
10332 Main Street #158
Fairfax, VA 22030
(703) 591-6544
CELL (703) 254-8862
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Received on Tue Jan 30 2007 - 23:54:48 GMT