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Show M Hidden meanings for press By JUDY JENSEN Asst Managing Editor How do you report the "news" when your sources refuse to talk? This is a challenge faced by anyone who has the dubious distinction of being labeled the "press." In a recent story regarding the Kern RiverWyCal pipeline I was told by several governmental agencies agen-cies that WyCal was pulling out of the race. When I called WyCal for verification I talked to company officials in four states before one of them had the "authority to comment. com-ment. That spokesperson ' s comment was that the company had not yet issued a statement saying it had decided to stop its plans to build the pipeline. "But, has the decision been made?" I asked. "We have not yet issued a statement on that,' came the reply. Which translates to "We're pulling out, but there are certain people we don't want to know yet.' Only news reporters understand the interpretation of remarks readers see in news stories, or the interpretation of answers we're given by potential news sources. A To help our readers understand j the news, I've printed here a i glossary of terms and correspon- j ding translations. Now you'll be ; able to ' 'read between the lines. ' 1 No comment: Translation: Guilty as charged. j I'm not at liberty to say: Translation: My attorney has ad- . vised me I could be ruined by this. I Those records are confidential: Translation: We have lost all of ! the files regarding the transaction, j I was misquoted: Translation: Gee, I wish I hadn't J said that I don't know enough about the subject to comment: ' Translation: Let someone else stick his neck out. This is the shoddiest journalism ; I've ever seen. , Translation: This is a Pulitzer Prize winning story. I've been burned by the press ; before. , Translation: The last report was accurate. ' You've ruined my career. ; Translation: I'd have gotten away with this if you hadn't printed the story. You just wrote that for sensa- ; tionalism. ' Translation: That was really embarrassing. em-barrassing. The press has been blamed for the demise of many leaders. Many of those leaders have used these and other methods of dealing with the press. Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry said he was "set up" when he was shown the videotape of his drug use. Locally, savings and loan institutions institu-tions continued to hand out brochures claiming your money is safe with us" right up until the day they were closed down by the state. It was the press that uncovered the savings and loan scandal which may have saved thousands of depositors' de-positors' funds. The politician shown in a television commercial responding to the press with the answer an-swer "I'm glad you asked me that question' ' and then he begins to tell a "fish" story is often true. We call it "doublespeak." One Clipper reporter was threatened with a lawsuit by an irate woman who said the news reported was "nobody's business." Another challenge we face is getting get-ting through to the spokesperson. It seems each CEO has employed Atilla the Hun clones to guard them from the press. The comment 'Til have him return your call," means you'll never hear from the man, and the old standard, "He's in a meeting," translates to "If it's the press I'm not in." Each of us suffers the same problem prob-lem in trying to report the news. I have found there is one advantage: female reporters have in getting to the source, when the iron-clad interrogator inter-rogator asks who's calling, a female can simply say in her most pro- vocative voice, "Just tell him it's1 personal. He'll know who it is." It works every time. |