Watch what you say, you might get quoted
I am yet to achieve the level of celebrity where what I say ends up being quoted in a major publication. Some friends and relatives of mine have achieved that honor. While it could be fun, the consequences may be unpleasant. It seems that the thing to keep in mind is that the purpose of the journalist is not necessarily to convey what you actually said, let alone intended, but rather to draw attention, increase readership, et cetera, et cetera (not that any blogger would stoop to distortion to make a piece catchy…). A New York Times article regarding the German elections inspired this entry. Apparently a German official made supposed derogatory remarks about Bush, where our president’s policies were likened to that of Adolph Hitler on the even of World War II. I have no idea whether the statement was indeed made – I wasn’t there and I don’t speak German – it does appear though that journalist may have made it sound more inflammatory than it really was.
I personally know some industry analysts who are still suffering the consequences of being misquoted either by a trade rag or a major periodical. It may take literally years to fix the damage. The example I have is of a somewhat more personal as well as sinister nature. This is something that happened to a friend of mine here in Boston 11 years ago. At the time, my friend was a freshman at Harvard. JFK, the movie by Oliver Stone, was about to be released. As part of the pre release campaign, Stone was screening the movie at Harvard. My friend decided to go and see it, as the topic was of particular interest to her – she felt she knew relatively little about the event and wanted to know more. An enterprising Boston Globe reporter (the Globe is the premier newspaper in Boston and probably all of New England, kind of the local New York Times equivalent) decided to interview some of the kids. Talking to my friend, the reporter asked what motivated her to see the movie. My friend responded by saying that she felt that her high school education was woefully inadequate as far as 20th century history was concerned. She said she felt that much more education was necessary on the particular topic of Kennedy’s assassination. Due to a lack of preparation in high school, the events surrounding the Kennedy administration meant nothing to her, as did the assassination itself. So, she was saying that she came to see the movie in order to learn something about a central event in 20th century American history. The following day the Globe had her quoted. It said that so and so (her full name), a Freshman at Harvard said that the Kennedy administration meant nothing to her and the Kennedy assassination meant nothing to her. The phone calls came early. My friend’s mother called her immediately. Clearly, she was indignant and mortified. My friend was aghast – she was portrayed as a oblivious and indifferent idiot. This particular story has a good ending – my friend promptly wrote a strong letter that was published and her misquote amended, with an apology from the Globe to boot.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all utterances could be retrieved, just like IM chats? On second thought I’d rather be misquoted than have some of what I said available for post factum review.
8:55:21 AM 
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