By Editor Morten B. Reitoft

Dear Ray Stasieczko, You are a threat to the industry, but as hard as it is to realize, it makes you even more relevant. You are not a threat because that's a mission but because humans are generally conservative. We don't want change. We say we want change, the new, disruption, and innovation. Still, there are always first movers or early adopters - the mainstream follows only when the new, the disruption, and innovations have become mainstream, and new disruptors now wait for their moment. 

You end your episodes, saying everybody who knows you knows that status quo is the killer and you'll be back tomorrow. Unfortunately, the story from ECS is not about an individual who doesn't like you and sees you as a threat. Saying the truth and questioning the status quo can be costly, potentially reposition power, make space for disruption, and must be seen as a threat - seems to be the only logic.

In times when any media that doesn't say what the reader subscribes to is perceived as 'fake news,' it essentially challenges the very essence of free speech and democracy. Your format, as you grow your audience, is becoming a stronger voice; therefore, the reach and importance will challenge the status quo - more than you may even think - and what you should consider, in my humble opinion, is to define and disclaim yourself better. 

Are you a blogger with a strong opinion, a media that must deliver a two-sided and accurate view of a story or an analyst who eventually will substantiate and back up everything with data?

If you are a media, register as such, get press credentials, get the protection of the Human Rights Declaration, and be ready to serve as a reporter/journalist - or accept as a blogger that you give a view of YOUR truth. People do not necessarily subscribe to your views - and though I believe every word you say, you also have strong opinions. Opinions are great, and I think you stand up for what you believe, but it also makes many sometimes almost give up. As editor-in-chief, I almost gave up when Heidelberger Druckmaschinen sued me for damages of €90,000 - for stories I wrote that I know are true and can be substantiated if I give up protecting my sources, which I, of course, never will do. 

Your voice is essential; inviting everybody to the table is part of you and your format. When ECSs or individuals don't buy into the format, they show how covert they are and the weakness of their product/service. Will the truth always prevail? I am not sure. The Internet and how we today subscribe to people and media we mostly agree with is a threat, and never earlier in man's history have we had access to so much information, and yet so many seem ignorant to  - well, facts?

Keep up the good work, and accept that a stronger end-of-the-day-with-Ray will challenge you on many levels. As editors, media, bloggers, and influencers, we must stand together to support, at least, the right to speak freely.

Yours,

/Morten B. Reitoft
Editor-in-Chief INKISH