Looking at the practice of Mr. Roloff , who is in charge of the CeBIT press registration, makes headlines like 'CEBIT is in Online Fever ' seem like pure blasphemy. In all the years before online publications were recognized just fine, but things changed for CeBIT2000. Mr. Roloff was upset about the large number of Internet publications that requested a press registration and thus he made an executive decision to simply not register any at all. The explanation reads like this:

CeBIT 2000 Hannover (24 February to 1 March) Dear Sir/Madam, We are in receipt of your request for press ID. Sadly we are unable to grant this request. Due to the ever-growing number of online media, it has become increasingly difficult to verify journalistic credentials. To meet the journalistic criteria an applicant must be employed in a publishing or broadcasting capacity in which it can be verified that journalistic/ethical codes are adhered to. This is normally the case for print media, which is on sale for a price, or for electronic media allocated fixed frequencies. This is the main criterion we use for pre-selection. With the increasing number of online media we are regrettably no longer able to verify journalistic credentials since online media can be freely accessed by anyone. For this reason we can only issue you with press ID for the fair on presentation of a valid journalist's ID. We ask for your understanding for this ruling, which had to be introduced to safeguard the confidentiality of our exhibitors. Best regards, Deutsche Messe AG Press and Public Relations Department

We are learning quite a few interesting things from this:

Mr. Roloff has found out that there is a growing number of online media. This is very observing of him. The conclusions he draws from this observation are the crazy part however. A real journalist has to be employed ! I guess that free journalists are already facing problems, let alone people who run their own website. Mr. Roloff concludes that without employment there's no chance to verify 'journalistic and ethical codes ' In the first place. In other words he doubts the ethics of a free journalist or a website owner. Employees of print media that you need to pay for and radio/tv-staions that use fixed frequencies however seem to follow the right ethical codes automatically. This is an interesting logic indeed. The 'journalistic credentials ' of an online publication cannot be verified (by his understaffed department), because this media can be freely accessed by anyone! I'm sorry, but I am lost here. Verification is impossible because the publication is freely accessible? Does that make any sense to you? Mr. Roloff , the holy knight himself, is safeguarding the confidentiality of the exhibitors. I'm a bit lost on that one too. I always thought that exhibitors are actually exhibiting, thus not trying to remain in secrecy. How 'confidential' does an exhibitor want to be treated? Maybe in a way that makes sure nobody comes to his booth ...? That should be confidential enough.