# Have you ever been tricked into saying  something stupid by a journalist?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-tricked-into-saying-something-stupid-by-a-journalist/523344>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 1, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-tricked-into-saying-something-stupid-by-a-journalist/523344 "2010-01-01T23:40:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-tricked-into-saying-something-stupid-by-a-journalist/523344/61 "2010-01-04T19:35:14Z")

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> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> The fact that you can only name 4 or 5 reporters (all of whom were FIRED, by the way) out of thousands who have fabricated stories and quotes only proves my point. **It’s not something that ever happens.**

**Diogenes** , I’m finding your assertion here a bit weird. The examples given do nothing whatseover to prove your point: “ever” and “at all” are absolutes.

I’ll throw the BBC’s Andrew Gilligan into the mix too - the words “sexed up” regarding the British government’s September Dossier re. Iraq’s WMD, that he put in Dr David Kelly’s mouth, which led to the poor man’s suicide\*.

Sure, it’s usually a firing offence, but it absolutely _does_ happen from time to time.

\*Which I don’t actually think was a suicide.

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**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-been-tricked-into-saying-something-stupid-by-a-journalist/523344/62 "2010-01-04T22:12:42Z")

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> [@BKReporter](#):
>
> So five reporters out of thousands who work in the print media.

Five who did something so black and white they got condemned. Most who deliberately distort by omission never get called on it.

> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#):
>
> I generally agree with **Princhester’s** take. Press coverage of legal matters often gets a bit distorted because lawyers typically cannot explain the subtleties of a complicated legal matter in terms comprehensible to the general public, so the reporter strives to fit the case into a good-vs-evil paradigm that’s usually a bit too simplistic.

While this is true, I in no way agree that the problem is limited in the way you imply. I’ve seen dozens of instances of reporters who garble legal detail and while it can be annoying, I understand that problem. But in the anecdote I told, no one who was actually listening could have failed to understand that the defence, the prosecution and the judge agreed that the incident in question was a freak accident and did not result from what I have euphemistically called being an asshole. The reporter was either terminally thick or deliberately writing a misleading story to fit her pre-chosen angle.

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