DOC. 61 REPORTERS 247
16
IDEAS AND
OPINIONS
happen?” you
will
ask.
Well,
everyone
who
is
of sufficient
inter-
est
to
the
public
to
be
pursued by
interviewers. You smile
incredulously,
but
I
have had
plenty
of direct
experience
and
will tell
you
about it.
Imagine
the
following
situation.
One
morning
a
reporter
comes
to
you
and
asks
you
in
a
friendly
way
to
tell
him
some-
thing
about
your
friend N. At first
you
no
doubt feel
something
approaching indignation
at
such
a
proposal.
But
you soon
dis-
cover
that there
is
no
escape.
If
you
refuse
to
say
anything,
the
man
writes: “I asked
one
of
N’s
supposedly
best friends
about
him. But he
prudently
avoided
my questions.
This in itself
enables the reader
to
draw
the
inevitable
conclusions.”
There
is,
therefore,
no
escape,
and
you give
the
following
information:
“Mr.
N is
a
cheerful,
straightforward man,
much liked
by
all
his friends. He
can
find
a
bright
side
to any
situation.
His
enterprise
and
industry
know
no
bounds;
his
job
takes
up
his
entire
energies.
He
is
devoted
to
his
family
and
lays
everything
he
possesses
at
his
wife’s
feet....”
[p.
2]
Now for the
reporter’s
version: “Mr.
N takes
nothing
very
seriously
and has
a
gift
for
making
himself
liked,
particularly
as
he
carefully
cultivates
a
hearty
and
ingratiating
manner.
He
is
so completely a
slave
to
his
job
that
he has
no
time for the
con-
siderations
of
any non-personal
subject
or
for
any
extracur-
ricular
mental
activity.
He
spoils
his wife
unbelievably
and is
utterly
under
her thumb....”
A real
reporter
would make
it
much
more
spicy,
but I
expect
this
will be
enough
for
you
and
your
friend
N. He reads the
above,
and
some more
like
it,
in the
paper next morning,
and
his
rage against you
knows
no
bounds, however cheerful and
benevolent
his natural
disposition may
be.
The
injury
done
to
him
gives you
untold
pain,
especially as you are really
fond
of him.
What’s
your next step, my
friend? If
you
know,
tell
me
quickly so
that
I
may
adopt
your
method
with all
speed.