STUCK TO A TAR BABY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200117-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 15, 2007
• Sequence Number: 117
• Publication Date: April 13, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/15: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200117-3
BOISE IDAHO ST'ATaMAN (ID)
13 PAprii 1980
Stock".-Io a.., arba
The CIIC d we. journalists have forgottena painful lesson
in a reemaT ably:short-timer-The lesson, learned in the exami-
nation of-covert activities that followed the Watergate affair,,
is this: Reporters: should not be-working as;contacts for the--
CI..Nothing is going to happen to change it r
CIA. Director Stansfield Turner::said last;:iveek that three
.American news correspondents'had.agreed = since the lessor '
was learned `-.to be,ClA informants---But even though Turner
said the CIA did nottap the reporters as sources of informa
thin, the---credibility ..of -the press was again compromised 1
l
h
is
-]
.through an,association with.-the- U.S.-:intelligence estab
rnent. The- CIA;tar:baby,-once=touched, is awfully hard to pull.' free from.
The CIA set a policy- three years ago against the use of cor-
respondents as agents-'. Turner changed that policyT.-.in a de-
velopment the press apparently-.overlooked,.He claims report-
would be used as CIA contacts only in'exceptional situa:
ers
s pers
en
e h had
ion
-- -
al
g..
.ant
-rr- -
_
___
ances aren't enough. If ; Turner, doesn't reinstate ..the policy
against using reporters- as `-contacts, .the :credibility of thee::.
media will be permanently damaged:
- he foreign correspondent ? has. a special - role ' to play in a
troubled cornerof the world. When trouble strikes, he is some-
times the only person to whom_the.world cam listen with any
assurance that it is hearing the.truth..His credibility is vital.
-Sometimes the dispatches-of foreign correspondents are a "
much utter: insight. into chaos than the measured pronounce-
ments- of-the:U.S-:State Department Such is the case in El Sal-.
vador, where political killing isa daily. occurrence and a per71.
plexed U.S. government can't seem to come up with any better'___**_,
policy than to- keep sending money to a military junta that -re-
portedly condones the killingof its subjects :~
.What of situations in:which_U.S. government policy has been
found wanting?=Vietnam= comes to mind. Would-readers'-and
-viewers of the news feel confident-that theywere hearing the:
foreign
truth if they-,knew the ET.government might4have.
correspondents on.its payrolls a _=# ~~~ ` -
-Despots don't need- reasons-to throw correspondents out'of;
their countries when news reports start to rankle:; But`Stans
field Turner hasgiven:them a:,.valid excuse :for; banning A.meri-
cam reporters from-their countries.--- - " - -
.Turner claims that; journ alists. don'tneedpolicies_to protect' their ethics and'wouldn't_loseatheii freedom.toreport if they;
'
t under-
,were to accepLan,assignrnent--from the CIA.He doesn
-.
ics are being breached or.:rights are being threatened: ' _?,
,,. Approved For Release 2007/06/15: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100200117-3