The following is a post I originally made to my first (and now dormant) blog on June 23, 2005. Although the situation is no longer a national news story, the principle it illustrates is extremely relevant. It is a mindset everyone dealing with the news media needs to understand, and internalize. So here is the transplanted post:
It was only a matter of time. Tuesday, seven days after comparing prison conditions at Gitmo to those under Hitler and Stalin, Senator Richard Durbin bowed to the inevitable and apologized for his analogy. In an article yesterday in the Washington Post Style Section, Mark Leibovich suggested, “Someone should post a sign in the Senate cloakroom…. The sign would warn politicians against comparing anything to the Nazis or Hitler or the Holocaust. These comparisons are not a good idea.” I agree with Mr Leibovich.
But there should also be another sign: WARNING: The only context is the final context.
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Senator Durbin's first response to being caught with his foot in his mouth was consistent with others in his same situation: protest that the remarks were taken out of context. Here is a key lesson for anyone getting media coverage: the only context is the finished news story.
Unlike a legal proceeding (the Senator happens to be a lawyer) where context is discoverable and parties get to read statements replete with all the qualifiers, modifiers and antecedents, the reader or viewer of a news story only gets to see what appears in print or on the air--the final piece. And whatever the reporter uses will be in context within that story.
Is that fair? Useless question. That’s the way it is. So deal with it. How? Be aware of what you are about to say that is highly quotable, but is not something you want quoted. And then DON’T SAY IT!
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