X-Message-Number: 7631
Subject: Re: CryoNet #7609 - #7618 
Date: Mon, 03 Feb 1997 10:26:54 -0600
From: Will Dye <>

In Message #7616, Garret Smyth writes:

>"Just
>mutiply your membership by a hundred" I was told, "who's going to check?".
>...according to the journo, big numbers make good press,
>and a little exaggeration for a good story hurts no one. I have trouble
>with this idea. I'd be grateful for other's input.

That a journalist would even suggest this should itself be a scandal.  
If the journalist is so unethical that s/he would promote lying, it's 
worth speculating that the journalist plans to gleefully pounce on 
the resulting scandal (much more juicy to expose a fraud than to 
have Yet Another Story about oddballs trying to do something 
unusual).  His suggestion to you was to lie in order to make the 
one story look a bit better, never mind the truth or the downstream 
consequenses.  I contend that unless he was just testing you, he 
adheres to that philosopy himself.  

My advice is to tell the truth.  You might even consider calling 
a competing news outlet, and have them secretly record your source 
repeat these suggestions to you.  

--Will 


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