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John B. OakesJohn B. Oakes
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Q:

In a case of the hypothetical type that we were talking about before, and this man's interpretation kept coming through differently, the procedure would probably be as you suggest; to cut them out. But there wouldn't be any rewriting of his copy at the end.

Oakes:

No, we certainly do not do what one of the news magazines is generally reputed to do. We definitely do not do that kind of thing. We do not change a man's copy. There certainly is, in my opinion, not enough editing of it in the sense of excision of opinion and insistence on nothing further than interpretive comment, but we certainly would not change a whole point of view. That is definitely not done on the Times. I think even more so editorially. Here, of course, is where we are dealing with opinion every minute of every day, and a man who has an editorial opinion different from my own-I think I've spoken of this in another connection before-of course, would not be asked to write something differently from what he believed in, even though of course his name isn't attached to it. If I don't agree with his editorial point of view or the editorial decision is to take a different point of view, I might very well change the edit all around, but that would be done with his approval, or, in an extreme case, someone else would simply write the editorial. In other words, we don't try to change people's views behind their backs or anything of that sort. And as far as the news reporting goes, in the sense that you were talking, I don't believe that this is done at all. I'm sure it isn't.

Q:

What is the position on the newspaperman's responsibility, I suppose in the patriotic sense, to use the word one way? For instance, he learns about a Bay of Pigs invasion before it's going to take place. Does he just sit on the story?





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