Talking to the Press Considered Harmful

Tim May tcmay at got.net
Tue Oct 9 21:30:08 PDT 2001


On Tuesday, October 9, 2001, at 08:49 PM, David Honig wrote:

> At 10:59 PM 10/9/01 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>> That's always an engineer's problem. :)
>>
>> Tech may be a partial solution. Tim could tape-record the conversation 
>> (or,
>> if there were sufficient market demand, conference in a neutral party 
>> to do
>> the recording) and damage the reporter's reputation capital by posting 
>> the
>> audio clip if he ends up misquoted.
>>
>> This obviously requires more effort than he appears willing to spend. 
>> But
>> some PR flacks do record conversations with journalists for precisely 
>> this
>> reason. (Less so damaging reputation capital, more so obtaining a
>> clarification/editor's note if something goes awry.)
>>
>> -Declan
>>
>> At 07:20 PM 10/9/01 -0700, David Honig wrote:
>>> Ok.  I was trying to use tech to solve a social problem.
>>
>>
>
> Audio recording takes essentially zero resources these days.  In Calif,
> IIRC, he'd have to get permission, but presumably *that's* ok with you
> reporter-types :-)

No, you're missing the real issue. Having a tape of what was said is 
meaningless for two main reasons:

1. Selective quoting. Out of a typical interview, the reporter can 
extract the juiciest quotes, even if misleading and out of context.

2. Enforcement. Having a tape is not very useful. (Declan says some 
court rulings say that verbal agreements are binding, but this presumes 
that one would bother to sue, hire the lawyers, and see it through. I 
know I wouldn't. I'd rather pay $5000 to have a lying journalist whacked 
than spend a hundred thousand bucks fighting AOL Time Warner or General 
Electric and, probably, losing.)



--Tim May
"Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and
strangled with her panty hose,  is somehow morally superior to a woman 
explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound"





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