PRESS'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE CIA DISCUSSED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400260086-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 5, 2004
• Sequence Number: 86
• Publication Date: March 18, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

ARTICLE APPEARED ON
C? EDITOR & PUBLTS11Ff',
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zo the CIA. discussed
By Sheila Silver
Four men with extensive contacts in
he intelligence community told a gather-
ing of journalists on February 26 that it's
just not realistic to expect journalists to
eschew a close relationship with intelli-
cence agents.
And 2 of them, both former CIA
agents, disagreed on the media's per-
formance in covering the CIA and events
in the intelligence community.
David Phillips was recruited by the
CIA in 1950 when he was editor and pub-
lisher of an English language newspaper,
the South Pacific Mail, in Santiago,
Chile. He estimated in the next 25 years
he was interviewed by about 300 jour-
nalists. "And I've only been burned.
twice."
But John Maury, a former CIA chief
and former assistant secretary of defense
for legislative affairs, said "a long, con-
sistent pattern of irresponsible disclo-
sures" on the part of both the CIA and
the press has caused grave damage to
both. He faulted the media for sloppy
reporting which he said has led to inac-
curate stories about sinister growth of
the CIA, the education of terrorists by
American agents, and confusion about
the identities and roles of CIA opera-
tives.
"These are perilous times. The world
now is more fragile, more explosive,"
Maury said. "Without good information,
we are a blind giant in an uncharted
minefield.-
Phillips and Maury were joined by
Joseph Fromm, deputy editor of U.S.
News and World Report, and Dennis Be-
rend, a former reporter who now is CIA
Deputy for Media Relations. The 4 spoke
at the winter meeting of the Maryland-
Delaware-D.C. Press Association. The
panel was coordinated by Ray E.
Hiebert, dean of the University of Mary-
land College of Journalism and president
of the Maryland Professional Chapter of
Sigma Delta Chi.
Fromm said, "Intelligence people
concentrate on people with information.
If you're a journalist abroad, and you're
ignored, you're a dummy.
"The best informed reporters find
doors open to them and they'll gain ac-
cess to inaccessible sources . . . Rela-
tionships shouldn't differ with intelli-
gence officers any more than with other
sources who provide information on an
unattributable basis. They should be
treated with skepticism."
Fromm recommended 3 tests for jour-
nalists who use intelligence officers as
sources:
1) Protect the confidentiality of
sources. Any violation jeopardizes the
reporter's professional credibility.
. 2) A journalist should exchange only
such information as he would publish
himself.
.3) A journalist should not share infor-
mation for pay unless his publication,
and not himself, is compensated.
"A journalist cannot serve two mas-
ters," Fromm said. "A journalist should
not obtain information in his capacity as
a reporter and then sell it for nonjour-
nalistic reasons."
Fromm also urged reporters to dis-
criminate between the "news tip" pro-
vided by an intelligence officer and
"tasking," recruiting a reporter to gather
information for intelligence purposes.
"Accept such a tip with the explanation
that any information derived from pursu-
ing it would be reported to one's editor
for publication," he said.
Phillips said intelligence agencies have
found journalists abroad attractive for
gathering sensitive information because
they have a command of a foreign lan-
guage, they have a "cover" that allows
them to be. persistent in digging out in-
formation, and they are experienced at
developing and maintaining sources.
When he was approached 28 years ago
by the CIA chief of clandestine opera-
Approved
tions in Chile, the CIA really was recruit-
ing his press, Phillips said. "The combi-
nation of a clearable American and a
printing press was irresistible." He
began to work with the CIA then, and
retired from journalism in 1960 to be-
come a fulltime agent.
Phillips said journalists and intelli-
gence people need each other. "Jour-
nalists and agents have symbiotic rela-
tionships. Both are chosen by their home
offices to go abroad and report, to ferret
out secrets, to report, on crises or to try
For Release 2005/01/12: CIA-RDP88-01315R00040Qi~609
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STAT
"In living in 9 countries overseas, I
always found there was a small group of
Americans who knew what was going
on: the American ambassador, his politi-
cal officer, American bankers, American
newspapermen, and the CIA information
chief. So they got together and scratched
each others' backs."
The main point Phillips made was that
intelligence activity by journalists 'must
be evaluated in light of the political con-
tingencies of the times in which they oc-
cur. "To say you shouldn't have done
something then because you wouldn't do
it now is wrong. You as journalists have
one allegiance, and it's to journalism.
But it's a tricky business, and I hope you
.realize what it might have been like for I
you overseas 15, 20 years ago, and what
it could be like 10 years from now."
Phillips said he "didn't hesitate" to
sign a secrecy agreement in 1950. But
since 1976, it's been CIA policy not to
enter into "paid or contractual" agree-
ments with an accredited member of the
American media, according to Dennis
Berend. The CIA "does not and will
not" use media agencies as cover. But
this policy does not preclude accepting
information from media people who vol-
unteer it to their government. .
Berend abhors the notion that the CIA
"used" the media. "I have a terrible
problem with that word, with the notion
that journalists were reduced to whim-
pering nobodies who lost the art of say-
ing 'no.' I don't think the CIA ever has
used people. It takes two in that gambit:
the 'user' and the 'usee."'
Fromm, Berend, and Phillips agreed
that the journalist's job is to prevent
"contamination" of news by intelligence
officers. Fromm thinks reporters can ac-
complish this by observing ethical rules
and remaining skeptical. Phillips said re-
porters would do well to weigh the
''moral and legal" questions of permit-
ting the news product to be usurped for
intelligence purposes.
And Maury reminded the listeners that
"Newspapers can't be true to their trust }
if they manage the news, picking and
choosing what suits their point of view." He suggested that the media which hold
a magnifying glass to public agencies
turn it on themselves regularly. "Power
can corrupt in the private sector as well
as in the public sector," he said. . - t