OPINION
a
0.410
Is This Off
The Record?
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
After more
than 20 years in
this profession, I
have finally
learned what
"off the record"
106, means. As in,
when someone I
am interviewing leans over
and says, "What I am about
7 to tell you is off the record."
• It often means: "This next
part is really interesting."
I'm only half-kidding be-
•
cause, in truth, ."off the
record" is one of the most
over-used and under-
▪ understood phrases around.
That can lead to serious con-
sequences, including
-• mistrust between the inter-
viewer and the interviewee.
► It's a delicate relationship
to begin with: The reporter
• whose job it is to find out in-
formation, including, at
times, information the per-
`y. son being interviewed does
- not want to divulge; and the
interviewee, who must trust
the reporter to summarize
accurately and intelligently
the gist of what he is saying,
knowing full well he can't
get it all down.
Too often, when the inter-
view is over and the subse-
quent article appears in
print, the person who was
interviewed feels the
reporter let him down,
perhaps by including some
information the interviewee
didn't expect to see in print.
This problem occurs all too
often, regardless of whether
one is interviewing a
layman or a seasoned pro.
For example, I recently
interviewed a professional in
the Jewish community who
deals with the media
regularly. After repeatedly
prefacing his remarks by
saying, "This is off the
record," he at one point
paused and said, "Now this
is really off the record:'
What was that supposed to
mean, I wondered. That he
was only kidding about the
previous information, or, ac-
cording to my theory, that
the last remark was really
interesting?
One flaw in journalism,
which by nature is not an
exact science, is that the
interviewer and interviewee
often play by two different
sets of rules.
If I call you up and identify
myself and tell you that I'm
writing an article about
such-and-such and would
like to ask you a few ques-
tions, I may conclude that
once you start responding
and answering my ques-
tions, you are giving your
tacit approval to being
interviewed. I can assume
that you are aware that I am
taking notes and that every-
thing you tell me is for
quotation and attributable
to you unless you indicate
otherwise.
You, on the other hand,
may assume that unless I
specifically ask if I can quote
you for the record, anything
you tell me during our con-
versation is for my edifica-
tion but not necessarily to be
attributed to you.
Sound confusing? It gets
more complicated.
To journalists, there are
varying degrees of "off the
record." The simple variety
indicates that I can use the
information you are about to
tell me as long as I don't at-
Sometimes you
have to decide
whether or not to
use a piece of
information .. .
tribute it to you directly. But
if you tell me something "on
background" or "on deep
background," that means I
can't use the information in
my story at all — it's just for
me to know.
Whether or not these rules
apply depends on when you
say the magic words. For ex-
ample, some years ago I par-
ticipated in a group inter-
view of a U.S. senator at a
synagogue. The occasion was
a community-wide program
on behalf of Soviet Jewry,
and the senator was a cham-
pion of the cause, having re-
cently returned from the
former Soviet Union.
After the public program
had concluded, three or four
local journalists interviewed
the senator in the rabbi's of-
fice. A few minutes into our
discussion, the senator made
a pointed observation — I
honestly forget what it was
about — and then said, "but
of course that's off the
record."
At which point my col-
league from the Baltimore
Morning Sun, who was older
and more experienced than
I, took exception, saying that
the senator knew full well
the journalistic rule that if
The Sale Of United Press Portends Trouble
■
BERL FALBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
I
t hardly is a secret that
the worldwide Jewish
community has not been
happy with the media in the
last decade and the recent
sale of the United Press Inter-
national wire service to a
London-based company con-
trolled by Saudi Arabians
does not bode well for the
future.
The wire service, plagued
by financial problems for
years, has been sold the Mid-
dle East Broadcasting Centre
which, reports the media
trade journal Editor &
Publisher, is headed by Walid
al-Ibrahim, a son-in-law of
Saudi King Fand, through a
Saudi company called Ara
and the Egyptian industrial
company Dalagh.
Obviously, whenever a spe-
cial interest group
disseminates information to
the public, that information
has to be "suspect" even
when those interests are well-
intentioned. In the arena of
international politics, this
development is extremely
troubling.
Steve Geimann, executive
editor and executive vice
president, who runs UPI out
of Washington, D.C., tried to
allay any fears, indicating
good news people are dedi-
cated to concepts of fairness,
accuracy and objectivity.
He said he "does not know
Free Press
publisher Neal
Shine
acknowledged the
potential for
problems.
who the owners are" and has
not been contacted by anyone
other than Robert Kennedy,
who is deputy chief executive
of the Middle East Broadcast
Centre, to whom he will
report.
But even that is suspect
since this center's primary in-
terest is to promote Arab
culture and it presently pro-
vides Arabic language televi-
sion news and entertainment
programs.
Mr. Geimann's personal in-
tegrity may be unques-
tionable, but he certainly
must understand that any
special interest group would
be hesitant to report news
damaging to its owners of
those it represents.
Mr. Geimann also knows
that there exist countless
ways to "slant" stories and
editorial executives like he
would not be aware of it.
A reporter can omit impor-
tant information without
editors knowing it. They may
do this because of personal
bias or not to antagonize
those who sign their
paychecks.
Indeed, reporters can
literally manufacture "news"
without the knowledge of
editors. An extreme case
became public when former
Washington Post reporter
Janet Cooke won the Pulizer
Prize for her series on an
8-year-old heroin addict. It
was later discovered the
8-year-old did not exist.
Stories favorable to Israel or
Jews generally may never see
the light of day. Even if the
editing is "objective," the pro-
ces has to raise eyebrows.
In this case, it is safe to
assume that Walid al-Ibrahim
will not send news around the
world which is damaging to
his father-in-law or Arab in-
terests generally.
If pressured, Mr. Geimann
may resist direction from his
bosses even at the expense of
his job; but others at UPI may
not share such idealism for a
variety of reasons ranging
from not wanting to lose a job
to sharing their owners'
views.
UPI is a powerful medium,
serving 2,000 clients around
the world. They influence
billions of people who read
UPI information in
newspapers or see and hear
them on TV and radio.
Neal Shine, publisher of the
Detroit Free Press,
acknowledged the potential
for problems.
"We will go in assuming the
wire service will be fair and
unbiased," said Mr. Shine.
"But that does mean we will
not be alert and cognizant of
potential problems."
He added that the Free
Press has other major sources
for international news, in-
cluding the Associated Press,
the New York Times and the
Knight-Ridder wire services.
Asked if news organizations
could receive slanted news
without being aware of it, he
said the "most effective pro-
paganda is subtle propagan-
da."
Then, of course, there is the
issue of publishers who make
no bones about using the
news pages to support their
editorial policies. The most
graphic case is New Hamp-
shire publisher William Loeb,
who for years used his news
section to thrash Democrats,
particularly very liberal ones.
Others in this country may
not be that obvious but, pro-
testations aside, media
outlets have deliberately
slanted news toward their
own interests.
And what about other coun-
tries which may not share the
ethical standards of the
American media? What
about all those countries who
are allied to Arab interests?
The sale of UPI impairs
Israeli and Jewish interests,
and those in the community
who are dedicated to fighting
back with letters to the editor
better buy a lot of postage. ❑
TI-IF IIPTP(11T
KIPWC
7