##fold. first, i believe that you should encourage honest disclosure from government entities on their degree of preparedness and the general outline of contingency plans that they are making. also, regulators should use the weight of regulatory control to encourage regulated entities to engage in voluntary self - disclosure. if you represent the media, you have a special obligation to engage in balanced and accurate reportage, not attempting to hide important facts, but not seeking the most sensational coverage. a broad synthesis that captures facts, not drama, is probably most useful. finally, all of us as members of the public have an obligation to listen to the most responsible voices. we should recall that in times of uncertainty, many views are expressed ; only the most factually accurate deserve our attention.

mr ferguson looks at public information and confidence as concerns posed by the year 2000 problem remarks by mr roger w ferguson jr, a member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system and chairman of the joint year 2000 council, at the second global y2k national coordinators conference held at the united nations in new york on 22 june 1999. public information and public confidence in year 2000 year 2000 is a unique problem that has various dimensions. it started as a technical problem, has progressed to being a senior management business issue and is now becoming a public confidence concern. in addition, it is unique in that we all know that the century date change will occur, but what will occur on that date is still open to differing perspectives. this is certainly a case in which the future is opaque. in this environment, there are, and will increasingly be, a variety of views and analyses. some of them will be fact - based and responsible ; others will perhaps be less analytical and more emotional. why is public disclosure important? public disclosure of each business ’ s plans, and indeed of country plans, for remediation, testing and renovation of systems, as well as general outlines for contingency plans are all critical. this is axiomatic, but it might be helpful to explain why. in a business context, individual counterparties, i. e. suppliers, customers, creditors and others, are all working to develop business continuity plans. full and comprehensive information is essential to that process. the readiness of counterparties is being evaluated based on available information. inadequate details in a business environment can well lead to negative perceptions in the marketplace, which may have pronounced market and / or economic consequences. not surprisingly, in a number of instances, earlier pessimistic perceptions have been positively revised with greater disclosure of information. with respect to public confidence, year 2000 seems to be an issue in which a better - informed public is a more confidant and calm public. for example, in the united states the financial regulators have recently completed a survey of public perceptions on this matter. the results show that those with the greatest exposure to the year 2000 issue were more likely to believe that any problems that emerge will be short - lived and subject to repair. more broadly in the context of public confidence, we know that the public will become aware of and develop a heightened interest in year 2000 at differing times. in an environment in which public perceptions emerge slowly, i believe that it is important to maintain a