More Transparency Than Microsoft Bargained For

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"While reporting a story on Microsoft's video blogging initiative -- something called Channel 9 -- the dossier that Microsoft and its outside public relations agency Waggener Edstrom keeps on me accidentally ended up in my email inbox," recounts Fred Vogelstein. Although he had "assumed that the people I interview do as much homework on me as I do on them," Vogelstein says that it "was strange to see just how many resources are aligned against me when I write a story about Microsoft. ... For something like six months prior they had been plotting to get Wired to write a story about Channel 9 and had dispatched three executives to meet with editors at the magazine." The 12-page document contains pre-interview tips (including a warning that Voelstein "is digging for tension," and a suggestion to "apologize for being so tough to reach"), post-interview assessments ("Fred's questions went as expected"), a profile of Vogelstein ("Fred can be a little tricky in interviews") -- even anticipated questions and answers, and "what we expect to see in the story." Waggener Edstrom president Frank Shaw writes that the document is not "surprising or nefarious," but part of preparing someone to give "a great interview."