Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506080062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
It's one thing to be written up in The Washington Post or be seen on NBC. But when the National Enquirer comes calling - with its exclamation points, glossy pages and grainy photos - you know you've made the big time.
So chalk one up for the Blacksburg Electronic Village. There it is, in the June 13 issue of the Enquirer, on page 17, packed in between the ``Pizzazz on Parade'' celebrity style section in the back and the front-cover teasers to ``O.J.'s last-ditch bid to save family,'' ``Superman'' star Christopher Reeve's paralysis and a Mike Tyson wedding.
``Computer-crazy town finds what the future holds for all Americans'' blares the headline, right beside an advertisement for getting rid of unwanted facial hair. Seven exclamation points are interspersed throughout the tale.
``I know, aren't we just the coolest,'' said Cortney Vargo, the BEV's information manager.
Tongue in cheek, she said that. It is true, though, that the BEV - a joint project of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech and Bell Atlantic to connect the town's residents, government and businesses together via a computer network and the Internet - has become hot stuff in the nation's news. The Washington Post, CNN and NBC have done pieces, the project has appeared in more than its share of magazines, and ``The Today Show'' was in town Wednesday to do a story.
But the National Enquirer?
Don't get her wrong, there wasn't much in the story that could be taken as derogatory. Nothing about computer nerds, no Elvis sightings on the Internet, nary a mention of aliens. Just a generic picture of what BEV means to Blacksburg.
Still, Vargo doesn't remember saying many of the things she was quoted as saying. ``I think they sort of generalized,'' she said. Topping that off, the person who wrote the story, Vargo maintains, isn't the same person she talked to - or at least doesn't have the same name. She definitely never called herself a spokesperson for the university, as she is characterized not once, but twice.
Darn those reporters. Can't trust any of 'em - exclamation point.
``I just laugh. It's pretty benign,'' Vargo said. ``Andrew [Cohill, manager of the BEV project] says we're in the middle-of-the-pack media.'' So it would seem.
And after all, it is publicity. And any free publicity is good publicity, right?
by CNB