New NPR editor delivers Dean Stone speech

By Matthew Pritchard
J-School Web Reporter

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Bill Marimow, guest speaker at the 47th Annual Dean Stone Lecture, answers a question about the war in Iraq. Marimow is the newly appointed managing editor for NPR, and former editor at The Baltimore Sun

Some public officials lie to the press, and it is up to reporters to “listen with a healthy skepticism” and decipher the truth, said William K. Marimow, the former editor of The Baltimore Sun and current managing editor of National Public Radio.

The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner spoke to a near capacity crowd at the UC theater on April 22 as part of the University of Montana School of Journalism’s annual Dean Stone celebration. Marimow’s lecture — “Lying to the Press and the People - A Debit for Democracy” — focused on his own dealings with lying officials and deceptive reporters.

Working as a city desk reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer in November 1985, Marimow received a tip that the mayor of Philadelphia, Wilson Goode, had received 24 men’s suits for free.

“At first I was wondering if the tipster was making a mountain out of a molehill,” he said.

Marimow talked to Goode and left the interview thinking Goode had received the suits at a discount, but not for free. He later found he was wrong and that the mayor had indeed lied.

Marimow learned that public officials lie in two ways. One is the “big lie,” exemplified by former President Richard Nixon’s lies about Watergate, which “often renders the leader powerless,” Marimow said.

The other is a “self-contained lie,” such as former President Bill Clinton’s statements about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, which aren’t as serious but weaken credibility and tend to make the person less of a leader in the eyes of the public.

Whichever type of lie it is, reporters must be certain they can deal with a lying official, Marimow said.

Reporters can do three things to keep from being lied to: be a careful listener, “listen with keen attention” and make sure people answer questions fully, Marimow said.

photo by Kathryn Stevens

Dean Stone guest speaker Bill Marimow speaks with the crowd after his lecture April 22, 2004.

Lying to the press is “all too commonplace in our democracy,” he said. In fact, public officials admitting major mistakes is as rare as a “winter in Montana without snow,” Marimow said.

However, he has encountered situations where officials readily admit they did something wrong. In such cases, the public is often more forgiving.

For example, in 1977 Edward Rendell was elected the district attorney of Philadelphia. Marimow was assigned to check campaign finance. He mulled over names of Rendell’s contributors and found one he didn’t recognize who had given a substantial loan to Rendell.

Marimow called Rendell. After thinking about it for five minutes, Rendell said he would pay back all the money.

Rendell made the right decision “ethically, pragmatically and politically,” Marimow said. He went on to become the mayor of Philadelphia for two terms and is now the governor of Pennsylvania.

However, this is a rare case, he said. In most cases the lie keeps getting bigger, making it impossible to recover.

"Avoidance of problems becomes more of a problem than the original problem,” Marimow said.

Marimow also spoke about reporters who lie by fabricating, making up stories or plagiarizing, such as Jayson Blair of the New York Times and Jack Kelley of USA Today.

When he was managing editor and editor of the Sun, he addressed issues of plagiarism or fabrication head on, he said.

“The leaders have to make that their top priority,” he said.

Marimow’s speech marked the second event of the two-day Dean Stone celebration. Earlier in the day the School of Journalism broke ground on the new journalism building, Don Anderson Hall.

Arthur Stone, the first dean of the School of Journalism, was editor of the Missoulian in the early 1900s. Stone began the UM School of Journalism in 1914 and started teaching in surplus Army tents on campus. The School of Journalism has been celebrating Dean Stone with a lecture and an awards ceremony since 1957.

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