HANDLING A HOSTILE REPORTER

The Madeira demonstration!

Some dumb reporter has apparently heard something about the CIA rumor and interest story. A story is normally judged like that is switch him to another more local interest.

The best way to handle some jerk by an editor on the basis of local interest.

He's hostile, but you can give him some kind of a story that would have to do with tourism, which this place Portugal not depends. They're catching tourism in Madeira and on Portugal—talk about more or less Madeira. The keyword is, "You shouldn't have seen the other time." You go into a dissertation along this line, that we got bad press other ships for lack of a press story, lack of a press book, that sort of thing.

This is a rather expert line of country. Normally on such guys you have a prepared story to advert to that they want the revolutionary has the truth. Although they continue to advertise about how revolutionary torment, for the are staying the matter is, "Because of some gangs and tourists in the Herald Tribune. Although away like mad, Naturally they even attack ships and tourism."

Give him the story about how they're ruining tourism. His editor will buy the story of how some area is ruining tourism. The way they're ruining it is law and order is out, the army's been subverted, they've had a revolution and tourists are staying away in droves. That's what would interest the island. And you wouldn't even mention that Portugal had gone totally communist because you might be talking to a communist reporter—who knows.

American interests there are under siege. The Firestone plant was put under siege and they were demanding its American board of directors resign. It's not an operating climate in which anything can occur and you say, "Cruise vessels are stopping coming in because law and order is out."

If anybody says a phrase like, "You were stoned out of Madeira," he is hostile. And he takes a two- or three-man handling. He doesn't interview one person, he is seen by two or three men and they keep flipping him down and throwing him; wrong curves. It's a mill.

There's also another fact: There is a clipping here from The Economist in England which makes a funny story out of it because there's the Apollo which was a CIA vessel off Cyprus. But somebody mistaking what is an "N," they're gaged tourism. There are treated as a joke on the other side of the pond. But these clippings—say, Apollo, this is of two or three of these clippings. Shorthand in these is the ruin. You see, it's too bad. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of English capital in hotels and it's all gone now. The English are being driven out. Hotels are empty. You get him to write any of that and the editor will say, "Now that's a story because it has local interest."

Keep saying, "Yeah, we were in the Portuguese revolution. Didn't you know we were in the Portuguese revolution?" Throw him a real curve. "Yeah, my God, guns were firing across the ship and tanks and all of this sort of thing. Holy & God." Just drop out time on it.