LEAKS AND STORIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100040057-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 22, 2012
• Sequence Number: 57
• Publication Date: March 14, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/22 : CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040057-5
STAT
LRTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE
the bitter personal and policy feuds in
the Administration. The other is about
Central America amdwhat is and is not
valid information on which policy
PARIS, March 13-The press is not.
just reporting but making news again.
It is always uncomfortable when
gameseeper and poacher trade
places. But there are serious issues
about national policy involved, and
they have to be faced.
There are two seemingly separate.
elements in the current argument. One
is about Washington leaks reflecting
Vietnam because the U.S. press bad v1r-
tually no access to the vieteong
-
.
They are obviously related, since both ^~_ $y Flora Lewr; But it is a result of Vietnam became
to judge what is good ornot good for pee- ?.- pert action in Nicaragua is an oppo. It is not, and must not be, the report
pie to know. But it requires constant site example. That was important and en's job to foresee the consequences of
judgment on what is news. ? - - . . usefal news, evidently leaked to blow a--.: - teat ng significant facts. That is trying to
It shouldn't be self-evident that any whistle. - _ ' play God and stop history. Truth is the
leak, when authenticated, deserves In part, the controversy about cover- .hardest substance-In the world-to pin.
publication. Thus. I found distasteful - age of El Salvador is the same issue. down. But the one certainty Is.the awe-
the prang of a highly selective set of Someof the stories reflect leaks from of 'some penalty exacted sooner. or later
notes from Secretary of State Alexan-. ? ficials on the spot grown frustrated with from a society whose -reporters stop-
der Haig's staff meetings. There was-- seeing their reports to Washing= din- tryidg.
no substantive news in. it, just lan- , totted to make propaganda and justify: . Which, side : attracts your sympa,
guage more candid than diplomatic. Previously -decided policy. These are tries where and how you get the inf or-
The only story was that in-fighting conscience leaks, of the greatest value nation is not the "crucial issue. If
and disorder in Washington have, - because they are an attempt to prevent you're on the side of democracy. free.-
reached a terrible state when a Gov- . decisions based onbadinformation. . '.: dom, the fate of the U.S. and human
ernrnenl official high enough :o attend ? David Halberstam has recognized. _ decenyy, then you have to be on the
staff. meeettngs chooses to snipe se. -`:the clear parallel of his owns expert-,. sideofchasingtruth.
manipulate the daily course of events as
to blow the whistle on abuse, deceit,
wrong headedaess that they have come
to find intolerable and impossible to stop
through government procedures. '
Inevitably, some damage is done when
normal channels are punctured in this
way. The question then is the value of
public exposure.'The reporter's creed
denies the right to set one's self above
nation is power, and-he was a master
wf elder. There are also amateur l eskers,
people whose aim Is not so much to
problems involve the responsibility of there the press learned the hard way to
the media to its own standards and to the . - t o ? detect the symptoms of official lies and
public, and both affectwhat the U.S. can ezetly with such a Iea',t. But the story distord0 m, and to notice that opposition
and will do in foreign affairs. was only Implied, not told. . Propaganda can contain some facts just
Already, senior officials say, the
Washington leaks are an old story. " asourowndoe&
It was oavital lesson.
Henry Kissinger used to say that infor- revelations of recent years edrs have led to
The editorial torial
d pointed ted out that that the fail
du
eco
d k S
hi
NEV YORK TIMES
14 MARCH 1982
FOREIGNAFFAIRS encewitizfield officers invletaam.He
explained the dilemma, both for the
eloquence'in-a recent article in The t
Wall Street Journal. He also reminded 1
how much is at stake when the people i
at the top begin to lie and manipulate
tosuittheirviews.
d.+ Another part of the argument abot
? Street Journal editorial attacking M-1
4D1 porters forleadng credence to guerrilla
~/ propaganda. This wasn't a problem la
re
ce
r
r
eepeng. orme t
ngs- ? -of friendly regimes in Cambodia, China,
just area tput oapaper. - . : ? etc didn't necessarily improve
Now, there is bound to be morecafe in things in those countries, and It seemed
talking at formal meetings. Such an at- , . , toblame the reporters who exposed their
mosphere of suspicion makes the worst failings. The fallacy is common. If one
possible climate for the frank and some* side has blackhats, the other must be the
times forcefully dissenting exchange a-. white hats. But they can all be black, or
decison-maker needs with his advisers. gray. And friendly tyrants can fall of
Bad communications make for bad gay- ' their own weight, damagag the U.S. in
.,ernment.Itmaybemorefuntoreadhow theirdebacle
they actuallytalk,butitdoesn',shed any . A reporter who tries to judge, or..
,
The Washington Post report of a Na- not one who tries to reflect-the actual
.. cover-up, is an irresponsible reporter
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/22 : CIA-RDP91-00561 R000100040057-5