Trying to squeeze the real message out of the above letter is not exactly an easy thing. It seems obvious that Mr. Roloff is highly annoyed by the large number of online publications that requested a press registration. It is also pretty obvious that his department is not able to handle the amount of requests properly. As a result he decided against registration of online media altogether. This is already ridiculous enough. If his department is not up to its job he cannot possibly punish all online journalists for his failure! 'In dubio pro reo' should result in a registration of all applicants, just as it's done by Ziff-Davis in case of Comdex.

Online Journalists Don't Follow Ethical Code

What really upsets is his argumentation. Online journalists don't follow journalistic and ethical codes, while these ethical codes are taken for granted in case of journalists from the print and tv-media. This is a slap in the face of every online journalist, of every website owner who supplies his readers with information. In a futile attempt of saving his face Mr. Roloff shoots himself in the foot and insults every online journalist.

Exhibitors Highly Disapprove CeBIT's Ban Of Online Media

To make the whole story look even worse he claims that he is safeguarding the exhibitors. Each exhibitor we asked was shocked upset and disgusted by Mr. Roloff 's refusal to register the online press. We collected several German statements from Microsoft, Intel, Nokia, Creative Labs, ATi, Asus and more, which I can obviously not publish here. The message of the spokesmen of all those companies was basically the same. Each company disapproves Mr. Roloff 's pathetic actions, they would love to welcome online press at their booths and they will take their consequences if CeBIT should not change those idiotic rules ASAP.

What Are The Consequences For Online Media?

Online journalists are obviously supposed to pay for their passage through the barriers. We are talking of no less than 30 bucks/day. Of course nobody would do that. Exhibitors already signalized that they would supply every online journalist they know with exhibitor badges. This is a nice gesture, but it still doesn't solve the issue. Press should be able to present itself as press. I don't want to run around the CeBIT grounds with a badge that states I am an exhibitor with some strange name. I expect to carry a badge that shows that I am a member of the press, my name and affiliation. The exhibitor badge is also not very helpful in case I want to use the press facilities. Nobody would let me inside. The same is possible for press conferences.

The only proper response of the online media to Mr. Roloff 's ridiculous actions is the following. DON'T GO TO CEBIT2000!!! This is what I am going to do and I advise all my colleagues to do the same. The exhibitors will soon enough scream 'murder' when there are no online reports about their products. CeBIT will finally suffer and, who knows, maybe CeBIT will drop in significance that much, that none of us will have to go to this cold and uninviting town in northern Germany next year anymore.

Follow-up by reading the article CeBIT 2000: Reports From the First Three Days