YOU WILL BE ADDRESSING THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS AT A DINNER AT 7 P.M. ON APRIL 11 AT THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES BUILDING.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00005R000400150004-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 27
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 18, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 31, 1988
• Content Type: LETTER

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JUDGE:
You will be addressing the American Society of Newspaper Editors at a
dinner at 7 p.m. on April 11 at the National Archives Building.
In the introduction of your proposed speech, you mention that you last
spoke to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1978, soon after being
appointed Director of the FBI. You point out the media's vital role in
American society, and quote Osborn Elliott, the former dean of Columbia
University's Graduate School of Journalism: "Practiced as it should be,
journalism provides both the glue that holds our society together and the
lubricant that makes it work_."
You mention the cooperation and openness which characterizes the FBI's
relationship with the media, and then state your thesis (page 2): "There are
some very good reasons why the Central Intelligence Agency's relationship with
the media is more complicated, and I would like to discuss those tonight. I
want to promote the view that certain kinds of information must be protected,
shared only with the elected representatives of the American people. And I
want to talk about the type of relationship between government and the media
that works best in our society -- a relationship of candor and cooperation on
particularly sensitive matters."
In your remarks, you emphasize that "protecting information is not the
same as hiding it." You discuss the relationship between CIA and Congress and
note how the Agency provides information to legislators -- through briefings,
written material, and testimony. You refer to the need to be candid with
Congress and mention the guidelines that were developed to help those in the
Agency provide information without compromising sources and methods.
In pointing out the damage that can be done by media disclosures of very
sensitive information, you cite a recent example which is sanitized in the
text of the speech. Footnote 4 provides you with classified background
information on the incident.
UNCLASSIFIED WHEN SEPARATED FROM ATTACHMENTS
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You then state that most members of the press are more than willing to
cooperate when government officials clearly state the reasons why certain
information would jeopardize national interests. You cite the example of when
former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance asked The New York Times to hold off on
the story about the Canadians who were harboring some of the American hostages
in Iran in 1980. You also mention a recent case, in which I asked the
reporter of a major newspaper not to publish a story concerning extremely
sensitive information about Middle Eastern terrorism. The reporter agreed to
withhold the story, and to this day has not published it. Classified
background information on this matter is in Footnote 6.
You conclude by stressing that our policy with the media -- like our
policy with Congress -- is to be both candid and responsive. You mention that
neither the Intelligence Community nor the journalism profession stands to
gain from a relationship of suspicion and mistrust, and we will do our best to
build the trust necessary to maintain a cooperative relationship.
Your proposed remarks are attached.
Attachments:
As Stated
TOP SECRET
Bill Baker
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PROPOSED REMARKS
BY
WILLIAM H. WEBSTER
DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
. BEFORE THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
APRIL 11, 1988
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IT'S A PLEASURE TO BE HERE TONIGHT. THE LAST TIME I SPOKE TO
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF NEWSPAPER EDITORS WAS IN 1978, SOON AFTER
BEING APPOINTED DIRECTOR OF THE FBI.1 DURING MY TENURE AT THE
BUREAU, I MET WITH JOURNALISTS ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS AND I HAVE
CONTINUED TO DO THAT AT THE CIA. I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT THE
PRESS PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN PROVIDING THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WITH THE
INFORMATION IT NEEDS TO MAKE INFORMED JUDGMENTS. OSBORN ELLIOTT --
A MAN SOME OF YOU MIGHT HAVE KNOWN WHEN HE WAS AT NEWSWEEK OR WHEN
HE WAS DEAN AT COLUMBIA'S SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM -- HAS ELOQUENTLY
DESCRIBED THE FOURTH ESTATE'S ROLE IN OUR SOCIETY. "PRACTICED AS IT
SHOULD BE, JOURNALISM PROVIDES BOTH THE GLUE THAT HOLDS OUR SOCIETY
TOGETHER AND THE LUBRICANT THAT MAKES IT WORK."2
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AT THE FBI, WE HAD A VERY IMPORTANT REASON FOR REACHING OUT 10
THE PUBLIC THROUGH THE MEDIA. WE WANTED ALL AMERICANS TO KNOW THAT
THEY SHOULD COME TO THE FBI WITH INFORMATION ABOUT ILLEGAL
ACTIVITIES AND THREATS TO PUBLIC SAFETY, AND THAT THIS INFORMATION
WOULD BE TREATED APPROPRIATELY. WE WOULD INVESTIGATE MATTERS
BROUGHT TO OUR ATTENTION BY THE PUBLIC AND, IF WARRANTED, THE
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT WOULD PROSECUTE.
THE FBI'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MEDIA WAS AND CONTINUES TO BE
HEALTHY, AND I THINK THE COOPERATION AND OPENNESS WHICH MARKED THAT
RELATIONSHIP HELPED BOTH OF US DO OUR JOBS.
THERE ARE SOME VERY GOOD REASONS WHY THE CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE
AGENCY'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MEDIA IS MORE COMPLICATED, AND I
WOULD LIKE TO DISCUSS THOSE TONIGHT. I WANT TO PROMOTE THE VIEW
THAT CERTAIN KINDS OF INFORMATION MUST BE PROTECTED, SHARED ONLY
WITH THE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. AND I WANT
TO TALK ABOUT THE TYPE OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND THE
2
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MEDIA THAT WORKS BEST IN OUR SOCIETY -- A RELATIONSHIP OF CANDOR AND
COOPERATION ON PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE MATTERS.
PROTECTING INFORMATION IS NOT THE SAME AS HIDING IT. INDEED,
WHAT WOULD BE THE POINT OF COLLECTING INFORMATION IF IT IS NOT
SHARED WITH THOSE WHO HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MAKING POLICY
DECISIONS?
TODAY THE INFORMATION THAT IS COLLECTED BY THE INTELLIGENCE
COMMUNITY IS SHARED WITH CONGRESS. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO THE CIA GAVE
175 BRIEFINGS TO CONGRESS: LAST YEAR WE GAVE OVER 1,000 BRIEFINGS
ON A VARIETY OF TOPICS. THESE TOPICS INCLUDED ARMS CONTROL, SOVIET
WEAPONS, THE PERSIAN GULF SITUATION, AND THE CONFLICT IN CENTRAL
AMERICA. IN THE LAST YEAR THE CIA SENT MORE THAN 5,000 INTELLIGENCE
REPORTS TO CONGRESS.3
IN ADDITION TO BRIEFINGS AND PAPERS, WE ALSO TESTIFIED BEFORE
THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE. I HAVE SPENT A FAIR AMOUNT OF TIME ON THE
HILL, LATELY, MYSELF. BECAUSE I KNOW OF THE NEED TO BE ABSOLUTELY
3
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CANDID WITH CONGRESS, AND THE RESPONSIBILITY INTELLIGENCE
PROFESSIONALS HAVE TO PROTECT SOURCES AND METHODS, I HAVE
ESTABLISHED GUIDELINES GOVERNING OUR DEALINGS WITH MEMBERS OF THE
HOUSE AND SENATE. AND I HAVE MADE IT ABSOLUTELY CLEAR THAT IN
DEALING WITH CONGRESS THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR DECEPTION.
I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THE OVERSIGHT RESPONSIBILITIES EXERCISED
BY CONGRESS ARE BOTH NECESSARY AND BENEFICIAL. THERE MUST BE A
DEPENDABLE SYSTEM OF OVERSIGHT AND ACCOUNTABILITY WHICH BUILDS,
RATHER THAN ERODES, TRUST BETWEEN THOSE WHO HAVE THE INTELLIGENCE
RESPONSIBILITY AND THOSE WHO ARE THE ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
AMERICAN PEOPLE.
AS PART OF MY EFFORT TO ESTABLISH AN OPEN RELATIONSHIP WITH
CONGRESS, I MEET WITH THE LEADERS OF OUR INTELLIGENCE OVERSIGHT
COMMITTEES AT LEAST MONTHLY. MEMBERS OF THESE COMMITTEES SHARE WITH
THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY THE RESPONSIBILTY OF PRESERVING THE
NATION'S INTELLIGENCE SECRETS.
4
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BUT INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS, LIKE JOURNALISTS, HAVE A
RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT SOURCES OF INFORMATION. AND WHILE ALL
INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITIES ARE SUBJECT TO CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT, I AM
REQUIRED BY LAW TO PROTECT THE SOURCES AND METHODS BY WHICH WE IN
THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY COLLECT INFORMATION.
THERE ARE INSTANCES WHERE INFORMATION PERTAINING TO NATIONAL
SECURITY MUST NOT BE RELEASED OUTSIDE THE CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT
COMMITTEES; THIS INCLUDES INFORMATION THAT COULD JEOPARDIZE LIVES
OR INFORMATION THAT THREATENS THE MEANS BY WHICH WE PROTECT
OURSELVES. THE DISCLOSURE OF SOPHISTICATED TECHNICAL SYSTEMS OR
CRYPTOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ALERTS A HOSTILE NATION TO THE NEED TO
DEVELOP COUNTERMEASURES AND CAN SERIOUSLY HAMPER OUR INTELLIGENCE
EFFORTS. IN SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE, FOR EXAMPLE, IF ONE SENSITIVE
PIECE OF INFORMATION IS PUBLISHED, IT COULD PUT AN ENTIRE
INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION SYSTEM OUT OF USE. AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF
TIME, PLANNING, AND MONEY WOULD BE REQUIRED TO REPLACE IT.
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INFORMATION THAT IS PUBLISHED NEED NOT EVEN BE ACCURATE TO DO
IRREPARABLE HARM TO OUR INTELLIGENCE CAPABILITIES. LET ME GIVE YOU
AN EXAMPLE. SINCE THIS IS AN UNCLASSIFIED FORUM, I HOPE YOU WILL
UNDERSTAND THAT I CAN'T BE TOO SPECIFIC. NOT TOO LONG AGO THERE WAS
A BRIEF FLURRY OF NEWS STORIES PURPORTING TO BE BASED ON CLASSIFIED
INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION INDICATING THAT AN ADVERSARY HAD CARRIED
OUT CERTAIN MILITARY EXPERIMENTS. THE STORIES WERE LARGELY
INACCURATE. YET COMMENTS ON THE SITUATION--AGAIN MOSTLY
INACCURATE--WERE ATTRIBUTED TO A NUMBER OF U.S. OFFICIALS. SOME OF
THESE OFFICIALS CONFIRMED THE STORY, ONE DENIED IT, AND YET ANOTHER
CORRECTED THE INITIAL STORY. THE STATEMENTS BY THESE OFFICIALS
SERVED TO HEIGHTEN SPECULATION AND TO SUSTAIN PUBLIC FOCUS ON
MATTERS INVOLVING HIGHLY SENSITIVE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION
TECHNIQUES.
AFTER THESE STORIES WERE PUBLISHED, OUR ADVERSARY TOOK
COUNTERMEASURES WHICH ELIMINATED OUR ACCESS TO THIS TYPE OF
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INTELLIGENCE. IN SHORT, EVEN THOUGH THE INFORMATION DISCUSSED BY
THESE U.S. OFFICIALS WAS INCORRECT, THE NET RESULT WAS A FURTHER
LOSS FOR U.S. INTELLIGENCE .4
REGRETTABLY, SOME VIEW THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY 'S
RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT SOURCES AND METHODS AS A THREAT TO A FREE
PRESS. I HAVE FOUND THAT MOST MEMBERS OF THE PRESS ARE MORE THAN
WILLING TO COOPERATE WHEN WE HAVE CLEARLY STATED THE REASONS WHY
CERTAIN INFORMATION WOULD JEOPARDIZE NATIONAL INTERESTS.
LET ME GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THE PRESS RESPONDED QUITE
PROPERLY IN MY VIEW -- WHEN LIVES WERE AT STAKE. SEYMOUR TOPPING,
THE FORMER MANAGING EDI TOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, WAS INVOLVED IN
ONE CASE THAT CONCERNED SOME OF THE AMERICAN HOSTAGES IN IRAN IN
1980. SECRETARY OF STATE CYRUS VANCE CALLED HIM AND SAID HE KNEW
THE TIMES HAD A STORY ABOUT THE CANADIANS WHO WERE HARBORING SOME OF
THE AMERICAN HOSTAGES. VANCE ASKED TOPPING IF THE TIMES COULD HOLD
THE STORY FOR ANOTHER 48 TO 72 HOURS, UNTIL OUR GOVERNMENT KNEW THAT
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THE HOSTAGES WERE FREE AND CLEAR. THERE WAS NO QUESTION IN
TOPPING'S MIND THAT THE TIMES WOULD WITHHOLD THE STORY.5
LAST FALL, A REPORTER FROM A MAJOR NEWSPAPER REQUESTED A MEETING
WITH BILL BAKER, MY PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR AT CIA, TO DISCUSS
EXTREMELY SENSITIVE INFORMATION THAT HAD COME INTO HIS POSSESSION
ABOUT MIDDLE EASTERN TERRORISM. BILL ADVISED THE REPORTER THAT
WITHOUT ANY DOUBT. HIS INFORMATION, IF PUBLISHED, COULD ENDANGER A
VALUABLE SOURCE OF INTELLIGENCE AND COULD RESULT IN LOSS OF LIFE.
THE REPORTER AGREED TO WITHHOLD THE STORY, AND TO THIS DAY HAS NOT
PUBLISHED IF.6 THERE HAVE BEEN OTHER INSTANCES IN WHICH THE PRESS
HAS WITHHELD STORIES OR WRITTEN THEM IN A WAY THAT PRESERVED THE
CONFIDENTIALITY OF INTELLIGENCE SOURCES. THIS COOPERATION IS A
RESULT OF THE CREDIBILITY AND GOOD FAITH WE HAVE WORKED TO ESTABLISH
WITH THE PRESS.
OUR POLICY WITH THE MEDIA -- LIKE OUR POLICY WITH CONGRESS -- IS
TO BE BOTH CANDID AND RESPONSIVE. WE FREQUENTLY SCHEDULE
8
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BACKGROUND BRIEFINGS FOR REPORTERS WHO REQUEST INFORMATION ON
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS. AND, IF WE CANNOT ANSWER A SPECIFIC
QUESTION, WE WILL TELL YOU THAT WE CANNOT ANSWER IT AND WILL NOT TRY
TO MISLEAD YOU BY INVENTING A RESPONSE.
WHILE SOME MIGHT DISAGREE, I THINK THE WORK OF INTELLIGENCE
OFFICERS IS, IN MANY WAYS, SIMILAR TO THE WORK OF JOURNALISTS.
INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS, LIKE NEWSMEN, SEEK OUT SOURCES, GATHER AND
EVALUATE INFORMATION, AND PRESENT FACTS IN THE CONTEXT OF BROADER
EVENTS AND ISSUES. BOTH PROFESSIONS REQUIRE CURIOSITY, FLEXIBILITY,
AND STAMINA. NEITHER THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY NOR THE JOURNALISM
PROFESSION STANDS TO GAIN FROM A RELATIONSHIP OF SUSPICION AND
MISTRUST. BOTH, HOWEVER, WILL BENEFIT FROM MUTUAL COOPERATION AND
CANDOR. FOR OUR PART, WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO BUILD THE TRUST
NECESSARY TO MAINTAIN SUCH A RELATIONSHIP.
I WILL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY OF YOUR QUESTIONS.
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April 30, 1987
TOPICAL LIST OF SPEECHES GIVEN BY DIRECTOR WEBSTER BETWEEN
FEBRUARY 23, 1978 AND MARCH 31, 1987
American College of Trial Lawyers* 3/7/78
Phoenix, Arizona
FBI, AS FOUND ON TAKING OFFICE
112th Session of the FBI National Academy* 3/24/78
Quantico, Virginia
COOPERATION WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT
3/28/78
National Crime Information Center*
Participant's Meeting
Washington, D. C.
NCIC
American Society of Newspaper Editors*
Washington, D. C.
REVIEW OF FBI OPERATIONS
Chamber of Commerce of the United States
Washington, D. C.
BREAKFAST PRAYER MEETING
4/11/78
5/2/78
92nd Annual Convention of the American 5/3/78
Newspaper Publishers Association
Atlanta, Georgia
INFORMANTS
Fifth Annual Judiciary Conference of the*
United States Court of Customs and
Patent Appeals
Washington, D. C.
PROFESSIONALISM IN THE FBI
William Woods College Commencement Exercises*
Fulton, Missouri
TASKING THE FBI; PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS
National Organization of Black Law
Enforcement Executives
St. Louis, Missouri
CIVIL RIGHTS AND MINORITY RECRUITMENT
*Not disseminated
5/18/78
5/20/78
6/23/78
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American Automobile Association
Washington, D. C.
A ABA Annual Meeting
London, England
5/29/80
1
7/15/85 !
ABA Section of Corporation, Banking and 7/9/85
Business Law
Washington, D. C.
Abraham Lincoln Association 2/12/79
Springfield, Illinois
tAcctutmy oi Lriminai Justice Sciences 3/14/79
Cincinnati, Ohio
Air Transportation Association
J Washington, D. C.
Air Transport Association
Washington, D. C.
Akron Roundtable
6/19/86
Akron, Ohio
9/19/85
9/23/82
%Alaska Peace Officers Association 6/24/81
Anchorage, Alaska
,/ American Bar Association, Section of Insurance, 8/7/78
Negligence and Compensation Law
New York, New York
American Bar Association, Special Committee on
Lawyers in Government
New York, New York
American Bar Association
Chicago, Illinois
American Bar Association
New Orleans, Louisiana
American Bar Association Panel Discussion
San Francisco, California
American Bar Association
Chicago, Illinois
American Bar Association
National Conference on Law in Relation
to Terrorism
8/7/78
10/26/78
8/8/81
8/10/82
8/7/84
6/6/86
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American Bar Association, Standing Committee on
Law and National Security
New York, New York
American College of Trial Lawyers
Phns.nitr_ Arizona
American College of Trial Lawyers
Phoenix, Arizona
8/11/86 1
3/7/78
3/4/81
J American College of Trial Lawyers 3/9/83
Boca Raton, Florida
American Council of Life Insurance 11/17/86
San Francisco, California
American Judicature Society
(-1
Atlanta, Georgia
American Law Institute 5/18/79
Washington, D. C.
The American Legion
Indianapolis, Indiana
/American Society of Newspaper Editors
Washington, D. C.
FA.MCLIL011 (mt=vrifctvci_
Washington, D. C.
American Press Institute
Washington, D. C.
/American society tor Industrial Security 9/17/79
Detroit, Michigan
5/4/83
_ American Society for Industrial Security 9/23/86
J
New Orleans, Louisian
American Whig Cliosophic Society 10/4/79
Princeton, New Jersey
Amherst Alumnia Association 3/30/82
Washington, D. C.
Amherst University Alumni Association 6/2/85
qA:herst, Massachusetts
Amherst Alumni Association 4/29/86
Washington, D. C.
Amherst College
Amherst, Massachusetts
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OPENING DAY PEMARKS
September 8, 1981
Dean Osborn Elliott
Good morning, and welcome to Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism--
the only game of its kind in the world. My name is Osborn Elliott, and I am
your friendly aeighborhood dean.
I've been ?wondering how to greet this disparate group?some of you fl2sh
from the Cr.-:).se of Academe, more of you with a year or two or more of expe-cience
in the outside world. I guess the best way to welcome you is as equals, ;Air
in one important respect, that is what you are: You are all intelligent enough
to believe tha., whatever your level of experience, there is more for you
learn about th:s craft we call journalism.
I think it is also appropriate to welcce you all as public servants--
for that is really what journalism is all about. I hope that you arrive here--
and I demand that you leave here?with that notion in mind. By choosing
journalism as a career, you have opted for a calling that is higher than most,
and carries with it greater responsibilities than most.
Bankers and businessmen serve their clients and their stockholders and
the nation at large by making money make the wheels go round?mostly honorably,
one hopes. Doctors try to find ways to help those who are infirm of mind and
body--which is to say all of us, eventually. Lawyers, to use an old Harvard
phrase, seek to set and administer "those bonds that make men free." Scieetists
try to help us understand, and to use productively, all the forces of nature.
Artists create beauty, and critics enhance our appreciation of it. And
statesmen?here I include members of the City Council as well as senators,
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prime ministers and presidents--try to make the body politics work--with uixed
results.
I could mirch on through the professio;15--teac1ers and poets, prelates
and publicans--and even deans. (I was told by a professor a couple of years
ago, by the way, upon arriving in academe, that the relationship of a dean
to his faculty is that of a hydrant to a dog--which I took to mean, indispensable.
Please check olt the faculty in the next fee weeks, and see if I caught the
drift correctl.ii.)
My poini is that there are many interesing and useful and honorable
occupations in this world--even dcaning--buft. journalism is almost unique in
the responsibilities it imposes on its practioners. Journalism is, as an old
boss of mine, Thil Graham?the late publish(-1- of the Washington Post--used to say,
a "precariousri intellectual vocation." Graham added: "When 1 think ofi a few
serious journalists I have known, I know thzt the jealous demands of excellence
in our calling have borne down on them heavily and deeply while also elevating
and enlarging them." We hope here at Columbia, by bearing down heavily on
you, to "elevate and enlarge" you all.
Like other professionals, when you leave this. place you will have your
bosses--often crabby editors, if you are print people; or impossibly demanding
producers, if you have the looks and voice and talent for electronic journalism.
You will, no doubt, run across your share of greedy and narrow-minded publishers
and station own:?rs. But unlike almost all other professionals, you will be
answering, finally, to another boss. You will be answering to the people.
That is why I welcome you here as public servants.
Yours will be the task to decide what is truly important in all the
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varied fields you cover; y_212Ei the task to probe for that maddeningly elusive
quarry that we call the truth; vours the task. to tell the doctors and politicians
and businessmen and scientists and preachers and teachers and poets and postmen
what is going cn in their fields and others, and why. Yours will be the t-isk
to help set the national agenda?and ?how huge a responsibility that is!
Practiced imperfectly, as it too often is, journalism can set class
against class, race against race, region against region. Practiced as it
should be, jouIralsm provides both the glue that holds our society togethyr,
and the lubrica:It that makes it work.
We have, in recent years, seen journalism and its practitioners denounced
as nay-sayers and ne'er-do-wells?those "nattering nabobs of negativism"
conjured up by that malefactor of ill-begotten wealth, the far-right Honora'Dle
Spiro Agnew, A,:c1 we have seen journalism apothcosized, in the Watey.gate
as the prot(,:ctc:,- of all that is good and the poser of all thit is evil.
The truth, of c;urse, lies somewhere in between. I would argue, in fact, at
one of the unfortunate residues of Watergate is just that kina of knee-jerk
negativism that Agnew chose to find so galling.
Too often these days, it seems to me, reporters tend to be automatically
distrustful of any person or any institution in a position of power. Too
often, a hard cynicism replaces that healthy skepticism that must lie at the
core of journalistic work. It is not surprising--after Watergate, after
Vietnam, after corporate payoffs, after Wilbur Mills! after Wayne This, after
Abscam?that this cynicism exists. But it is too bad.
Another residue of Watergate, I'm bound to say, is a certain arrogance
on the part of some meinbers of the press?the hind of arrogance that caused
the editors of the Wasnjngton Post to stick by their Janet Cooke story long
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after strong doubts about it had arisen in tie Post's own newsroom. You can
imagine that we at Columbia, where the Pulit3er prizes are administered, feel
pretty strongly about that whole affair.
Journalism has other problems these days--both in printand broadcast.
There is, for example, the recent death in the afternoon in Washington--ar.d
the daily rape in the afternoon in New York. There is the wink, nod and
elbow-in-the-side brand of happy talk that tries to pass itself off as
journalism on the tube. There is the disturbing matter of the large chairs
gobbling up ever more papers across the land. And there is the big question
mark hovering over the sprouting tendrils .7,2 cable TV.
All of that leads me back to the teachinl of journalism here at ColuiAda.
We ask ourselves all the time, at this School, how journalism should be
/ taught. We can teach you how to write a leae, and a transition, and how to
interview somece and get the juicier quotes up high in the story. We car.
teach you about cross checking and accuracy. And we can teach you sometLi.ig
about the world that you are going out to cover.
But we can't teach you insight or compassion or fairness, and we can't
provide you with that "fire in the belly" that any good journalist must have.
If you don't have those qualities as you arrive here, and if you feel that
you cannot develop than, I urge you to leave this place at once.
If you do have these qualities, or think you can develop them, I welcome
you to an c:-:citing and rewarding year?and into a profession that will be
ultimately fulfilling.
In a couple of minutes, Associate Dean Carolyn Lewis will be talking to
you in some detail about our academic and professional program. bet me dwell
for a moment on some of the changes we have Ly,::en making in the curriculum to
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enrich your lives here. First, something we have dubbed as the Issues of the
Eighties lectures. These talks will be on such subjects as science, business,
urban affairs, politics, and race relations. They will be offered by such
professionals in journalism as Beth Fallon and.. Mickey Carroll, Marcia Chambers
and Ken Aulettzl. And by such expert outsiders as Lou Harris and, I hope,
Vernon Jordan. For most of these sessions, we will appoint a student panel
to ask the tough questions after the formal talk. And out of each of these
sessions will come writing and reporting assignments.
In the past couple of years, we have added some new courses of study--
cultural criticism, which is taught by my old Newsweek colleague, Peter
Prescott; and business and financial reporting and writing, offered by the
experienced jo,rmalist Chris Welles and Ron Krieger of the Chase Bank.
This year, Pro-essor Penn Kimball will be offering a multiple-point coursE
in urban journlism. Another new course is called "Race, Racism and Reporting:
The People of l!ew York," and will explore the ethnicity that is so central
to this city, and for that matter to the country as a whole. Not so incidentally,
this course fits into my definition of journalism as the agenda-setter for
our society; I happen to think that racism is still a 'blight on this nation,
and 1 think it essential that we journalists keep that unfortunate fact to
the fore.
One of the most important courses that all of you will take is offered
on Fridays by Professors Fred Friendly and Benno Schmidt. It is called Media,
the Law and Society. In this course you will be exploring not just such lgal
matters as the First Amendment, libel law, and rules of privacy--but probing
deeply into the ethics of journalism and its central role in the workings of
our Republic. Not to mention the thought processes, and set of mind, that
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distinguish a journalist from a lawyer or a businessman.
And a journalist is different--for one thing, in his work he must find
the proper distance from the seat of power. Someone wrote that "the concessions
a journalist has to make in order to be on the inside are constantly at wz.r
with truth and realism. There is no. simple formula that will save him from
seduction or e=or. Yet in the tension between the two, good journalism is
forged..."
Walter Lippmann addressed this problem, in a farewell speech when he gave
up writing his newspaper column back in the Sixties. "A long life in jour.nalism,"
he said, "convinced me many presidents ago that there should be a large
space between between a journalist and the head of a state. I would have carved on
the portals of the National Press Club, 'Put not your trust in princes.' Only
the very rares-_-. of princes can endure even a little criticism, and few c'T
them can put 1.1;. with even a pause in the aaulation."
This estalishing of distance, of course, is as important in coverincL!
City Hall as it is in chronicling the doings of world leaders.
Now, a personal note. I spent more than thirty years in the practice
of journalism, almost half of those years as the editor of Newsweek. I
consider myself to have been unbelievably lucky. I can imagine no pursuit
that can be more gratifying than journalism, and none that could be more fun.
So work hard here--you'll have to. And for heaven's sake, have fun:
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portrayed by television in a docudrama ?will
register in the minds of the people who saw it, 'and
the truth of what actually happened in Atlanta is
going .to have one hell of a time catching up.
The media's presenting of a form of reality that
is more fiction than fact is extremely dangerous and
seductive, because fiction is neat and life is ragged.
The making of the docudrama, Roots, is instruc-
tive here. Originally Alex Haley, the author, was
to come into the story from time to time as a kind
of narrator. The story would then go back to his
biography of Kunta Kinte. These intermittent in-
sertions of reality were to continue throughout the
drama. Halfway through the production, the pro-
ducer of Roots came to Haley and said, -"Atm
.ut There is no was
nk, can stand up to
nte." Haley irnmcdi-
self out of the piss.
Kunta Kinte is murdering
that you, as a real
the dramatic ce of K
ately understood. He to
ind the fictional drama n on.
.TJaere_are.plenty of-historical examples of civili-
zations going crazy in the midst of great demauds
for rationality. That really is where your responsi-
bility lies. You must meet those demands.
Mr. Jefferson said that the whole of government
is the art of being honest. We are now putting a lot
of emphasis on the art. I think we ought to put more
emphasis on the honest, especially about the facts
UBLIC INFORMATION, GOVERNMENT AND THE MEDIA
Secrecy and the Public's Need to linow_!
DONALD McDONALD (Acting Director of the Center; Edi-
tor of The Center Magazine): Who is competent to
draw the line, and how can it be objectively drawn,
between government information that should be
kept secret and that which the public has a need
and a right to know? We have had examples injhe
fairly recent past of some of the news media decid-
ing that the government's request for secrecy was
out of order and unnecessary. I refer specifically to
the Department of Defense's request to some news
(tganizations last fall not to publish or broadcast
details of a planned launch of a space satellite.
MEL ELFIN (10M:el Wash.ngton Bureau Chic'. Newsweek
.-71ar:azine; The Secretary of Defense rippedAnto the
Washington Post in an effort to hide a real secret.
Th:r. Washington Post had printed nothing that had
not been known for a long time. Secretary of De-
fense Caspar 'Weinberger picked an easy target in
the Post, a publication that people would believe
had df,ne something wrong. lie did that in order to
offer a little disinformation as to the real nature of
15
the launch. The talk in Washington was that the
press held back on what probably is a real national
security secret involving the shuttle ?sortieti^g
that had nothing to do with what the Post ran --
and that Mr. Weinberger picked on the Post in an
effort to mislead the Russians.
WALTER MEARS (Executive Editor, Associated r,ess
The Associated Press agreed to hold off on that
story. We were one of the four organization, that
did. In retrospect, I'm not sure that we weren't had
The request was not made directly to me. so I don't
know what was said in that conversation. Rut I _MI
inclined to agree with Mel Elfin that there a,
bit of crying wolf for reasons that escape mc
think the government damaged the process bydoing
what they did.
WILLIAM THOMAS (Editor, Los Angeles- -T,nies): Whcn
AP was briefed by the Department of the Dcfens.:-
-and the Post wasn't briefed as I recall - the
briefing must have convinced Lou lioccar0,
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methods is a particularly sensitive iorn?I of i
/
mation.
_ _
Another has to do with endangering nati
security in in a brad sense. -If you 4ive away
backup position ' in arms ,colitrol negotiations
the Soviets, you may hinder the reaching of an
the world.
control agreement that might ensure the peace
- !
nfoT:. 1 ? manipulated. Not only did they talk atx.vut r\f
- :
King' women, women, but they also tried to spread steie
tn bts
opal 1 : ,about COmunist eonnectiont .TtiC tray ta Istkiv.?..
our! - : the FBI !began to take an active pan tft tryiN i..,
With i smear and ruin the reputations of pekvple *0,4 Irru.t.
arms : ably as big a story as we have seen in Laltal vo!'Actiot
of/
? area.
li
McDONALOt So what do you do when somebody p
that to you? Do you try to verify that. publicati
will'in fact endanger arms control negotiations?
scHohn: Maybe as big a-story as any here is, w
the hell are these people in the government who a
torpedoing the government's arms ontrol effo
and are willing to leak this information apparent
without purpose? Once theyhave leaked, they hay
leaked. I am not myself in the business of sayin
please, shield me from this knowledge. Once we
have that knowledge, we have a problem, and W
are close to publishing it.
EUGENE PATTERSON (Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer, St. Petersburg Times): Whether or not some.. .
thing involves national security, there is another
element in the press's operation that the public does
not realize .motivates the media as flinch as it does,
and that is. basic morality. s it right to print thii,
or is it wrong? Are we being used: by somebody
when we are big boys who should know we are being
used? The question is not y, does it hurt national
security to publish? It is also, is it just or unjuSt?
When the FBI came to see me at the Atlanta Con-
stitution to tell me that Martin Luther King, Jr.,
was carrying on with women, and wanted to know
vvhs: I wouldn't print it, I said we don't print stuff
like that. I said the news here is that you are doing
this to Dr. King, or attempting to do it. And you
know, in Dr. King's lifetime, ,no newspaper, not
even the most segregationist sheets in the South
ed ,
ever print what the FBI was trying to peddle.
We don't do things like that. For us to have
printed what the FBI was trying to do to Dr. King
would have been to permit them to do it. So, no-
printed it until after his death. Then we all
printed it. so that the pub/ic would know what their
federal police force was doing. But we did not play
into their hands during Dr. King's lifetime.
SCHORR: \ on are absolutely right. The big story
?,ka the ska) the FBI was manipulating and .being
1 ??? PATTERSqN: On Dave Lawrener's question ? what
Lai have we Printed that did endanger tuitional uscurzt)"
on It is a vnry short list. I think we endangered stx-sarit!..
in Wadi War II when the ChiCago Tribsepte
lished a Stoty indicating we had cracked the JAN-
brit ? '):nese code, don't think security was damagej. ty-
re cause the Japanese never flicked up on it. But thrre
rt s ? I.think ikasla case. ?
lY
? On ,the other hand, when I was at the %Vaslting
ton Postnd we got the Pentagon Papers, wr pulkd
*,y in people like Chalmers. Roberts, Murray: Mardef,
Don Oberdorfer, George 'Wilson. Among It=
e these people had a century or more of service
their specialties. They knew, from follosving the
Vietnam: war, what might be sensitive and wh.a!
might not. They had a bale of material that
not print. For instance, electronic su.rveillance Vi
knew that that was fairly sensitive stud, so
? set that i'.aside and never printed a word ot
ii
do self-censor. I d think the genera) public in
America knows this.
TOPP1NG? There is no question that when lives ,a,re
in jeopardy, particularly during a military opera-
tion, we:do not publish I was involved in one cas.c
that concerned some of the American hostaget- tr?
Iran in I980. I had no hesitation when Cyruj.. l'ari,:t!
called Me and said he knew the Times had a ;ton
about the Canadians who were harboring w,me.
-our hostages. He asked if WC could hold the roc*
another forty-eight or seventy-two hours. until our
governnient knew that the hostages were free
clear. There was no question in my mind tha7
would withhold the story. That is part of
sponsibility. We all accept that.
ELFIN: We had that story for J ear, an 1 ?
to mention it in a kind of offhand way to
at a dinner party Once. Later I got a zall fro' %.1/4
ren Christopher. We sat on it for a )car
now the shuttle case is probably the most
center thing. The press simply printc, .?
known about the shuttle and has not en,Lir,,.? --
anything.
21
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