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If high-minded high-tech enthusiasts are to be believed, the Internet is an unrestricted zone for the free exchange of information. But Houston-based computer manufacturer Compaq — the world’s No. 1 PC maker, with $25 billion in revenue last year — doesn’t appear to share that vision. It recently used its clout as a major online advertiser (one industry analyst estimates the company spends $5 million on online ads each year) to quash criticism of its products.

In June CNET, an online publisher, quietly pulled a column by technology writer Bronwyn Fryer from one of its sites just a few hours after posting it. Fryer’s column detailed a class-action lawsuit against Compaq alleging it knowingly sold defective computers. Two CNET sources tell Mother Jones that Compaq, which advertises with CNET, quickly called to complain, after which editor Christopher Barr pulled the column.

Fryer says Barr told her that he pulled the column because he considered the story one-sided, but Fryer, who has also written for Newsweek and the New York Times, disagrees.

“I was dismayed,” she says. “I knew I had carefully checked [the story]. I was simply reporting what the class action was.” Barr denies that Compaq called.

Fryer is not the only victim of Compaq’s heavy hand on the Internet. Charlotte, N.C., businessman Dale Johnson initiated the class-action lawsuit in 1997 after, he says, his Compaq Presario didn’t work as advertised. When he criticized Compaq computers on an America Online message board hosted by Compaq technical support, his posts were deleted (as were his subsequent posts about the lawsuit).

“Compaq just did not want [Johnson] communicating with anyone,” says Jeffrey Sprung, the attorney handling the suit. “They put themselves in the position of editors of a…public forum.” Compaq declined to comment.

In June, Compaq stopped moderating its AOL message boards. And Fryer’s column, substantially rewritten at her CNET editors’ insistence, was re-posted in August. The new version discussed in broad terms how competitive pressures lead some PC manufacturers to rush products to market without adequately testing them first. Where were the class-action lawsuit and Compaq mentioned? In a few short paragraphs at the end, under the heading “When All Else Fails.”

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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