From: Jasper
Date: 7/28/01
Time: 1:44:35 PM
Remote User:
Allita,
The best thing that can happen to a reporter is to go to jail for refusing to divulge a source of information in a high-profile case. The next best thing is to be threatened with jail for refusing to divulge a source.
It's a great career move, which carries little actual risk of serious jail time. If a judge is dumb enough to put a reporter in jail, his or her news organization will bail him or her out pronto and the reporter becomes an instant hero. Remember, Joe Bosco was also threatened with jail time for refusing to divulge his source for the same story. The difference is Savage reported it; Bosco didn't.
You asked an important question about Tracie Savage in another post. You asked whether she was a pawn or a participant. You could ask the same question about Colin Yamauchi, Ron Phillips, Marcia Clark, Chris Darden, Phil Vannatter, Tom Lange, the FBI and just about the entire United States press corps. However, when you come right down to it, all you need to know to get these people to do what you want is to know their standing operating procedure given a certain set of circumstances and to provide those circumstances.
I used to listen to a talk station where the host was a big fan of classical jazz. I wanted to write him a letter about an interview he did with Ted Koppel and to be certain that he read it over the air. I wrote the letter and I was sure that he would read it because of two things: 1) He often read letters that expressed a coherent opposing view. 2) He had a soft spot for people who shared his appreciation for classical jazz. All I had to do was write my letter and to be certain that I made an "allusion" to classical jazz (I used it as an analogy). Yes, he did read the letter and when on to say some complementary things about me.
The same trick worked every time with Letters to the Editor of the Detroit Free Press. Once I picked up on the "always" patters in the letters that got printed, I could just about guarantee that anything I wrote would get printed - with a few "small" changes. I could do nothing about the editing additions, deletions and alterations so I finally gave it up.
The bottom line is this: If you know ambitious reporters who will stoop to anything to get an exclusive story, you can play them like a piano. You need only be first with the "news" and be willing to do what it takes to get their attention. --Jasper