A story is just as good as the story-teller

I intend no offence to reporters nor do I intend to stereotype them. However I somehow feel that there are reporters even today who spice up things in media to gain attention and sell the story. This seems to have been in existence for ages now. The article below is from the writings of Albert Einstein in the year 1934.

Mein Weltbild, Amsterdam: Querido Verlag, 1934.
Author: Albert Einstein

To be called to account publicly for what others have said in one’s name, when one cannot defend oneself, is indeed a sad predicament.

One morning a reporter comes to you and asks you in a friendly way to tell him something about your friend N. At first you no doubt feel something approaching indignation at such a proposal. But you soon discover there is no escape.

If you refuse to say anything the reporter 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”.

Therefore you understand that there is 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….”

Reporter’s version goes like this… “Mr. N takes nothing very seriously and has a gift for making him 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 considerations of any non-personal subject or for any extracurricular mental activity. He spoils his wife unbelievably and is utterly under her thumb….”

Next morning your friend N reads this in the paper 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?