AP Reporter misrepresents herself to get interview with Steinbrenner

Maybe she promised him one of those great calzones.

 

i've got zero problem doing whatever is necessary to get through to a "source." screw secretaries, flaks, etc. once you get through the defense, you i.d. yourself and give the subject every chance to tell you to stick it.

man, we're either getting soft or not trying hard enough. this wasn't lying to get an interview. i presume steinbrenner was fully aware of who he was talking to. the secretary didn't? too bad. yankee beat writers are whining? poor babies.

when chris mullin was in alcohol rehab in late '86-'early 87, the columnist i worked with was trying to figure out how to get him on the phone the day before his release. i advised the columnist to call the rehab place and i.d. himself as one of mullin's brothers. sure enough, the call was put through. when chris picked up, the columnist immediately i.d.'d himself ("i lied," he told mullin). chris and the columnist were close when he had been at st. john's and i had covered chris in high school. the columnist got a good column out of it and mullin was fine with it.

if he wasn't, he just would've hung up. same with "addled" george.

 

My mistake. I thought she had said she was a friend of the inmate --- thanks for the clarification.

Regardless, though, I still don't think I'd be comfortable trying to hoodwink my way into an exclusive. It would be tempting, sure, but I just don't think it exactly helps our credibility.

 

;D

 

I wish I got the calzones joke.
Anyway, the AP's reporter didn't seem to do anything wrong, she and Steinbrenner do go way back and he probably looked forward to talking with someone he trusted that didn't normally work the Yankees beat.
And I never identify myself as a reporter unless I'm asked. When they say who is calling, I just say my name, most times that gets me connected. I always thought that was good enough.

 

I'm kind of shocked that so many "journalists" would lie, in a heartbeat, to write a story as trivial as this one. Not a proud day for us, folks.

 

lying to whom? i don't consider getting through to a subject as "lying." it's doing your job. if you can't do that, get out.

 

OK, shock, it wasn't "lying." It was "telling a mistruth." :

 

An actual serious question:

If she had said "old acquaintance" rather than "old friend," would anybody on either side of this argument have any problem with that? They were acquainted.

Also, how do we know that this isn't a generic, "she said she was an old friend" recounting of the situation and that's not the precise language she used.

Finally, and yeah, this is semantic gymnastics, but what do you have to be to be somebody's "friend" anyway? Go to their home? Know them well enough to call them by name and exchange pleasantries? Or ...

 

also, was she on a list and he called her back? or did the secretary tell george it was so-and-so, and he said, "put her through?"

this really seems like much ado about little.

 

it's a term with many connotations. i might even say i'm friends with you, SF, because we've corresponded once or twice on here and on PMs on SportsJournalists.com. i know stuff about you based on your posts here, but i don't even know your real name and you don't know mine.

so would i call you to talk about some serious problem i'm having? no. but i guess if for some reason i needed to get in touch with you and access was being blocked i could tell your PR person that i'm a friend and when you answer, i'll say 'hey, this is leo1 from SportsJournalists.com.' then it would be up to you to decide to talk. that seems to be how this situation went down.

i agree with shockey that this is much ado about little.

 

I gotta agree with this. I am sick of kow towing and going through others to get interviews. The problem with SID's, is the coach forces them to be the jerk and say no.

The problem with journalism today is that people take these ethical guidelines too rigidly. You know what?, I would only truly identify myself to the person when I got the person I wanted on the phone. That' what I am doing this year.