Randy C. Alcorn, who attended a pro-life rescue (a sit in at an abortion clinic) told the following story about the reporter who interviewed him.
“I was interviewed at one rescue by a newspaper reporter. We had talked at length, and I was pleased that all the rescuers were very calm and controlled, so he wouldn’t have any grounds for a sensational story and hopefully stick to the facts.
Later, however, one woman who was not with our group and did not come to rescue arrived on the scene and began shouting at the clinic personnel and one policeman. One of our leaders took her aside and begged her to stop. I immediately went to the same reporter and pointed out that the woman shouting was not with the group doing the rescue, and in fact we were actively trying to calm her down and get her off the premises. I specifically said, “Please don’t give the impression that she’s with us, because she isn’t.”
The article in the next morning’s paper focused on this woman and her shouting and name-calling. It left the definite impression that she was not only with our group, but representative of our behavior. This isolated 10 minute incident, totally uncharacteristic of the rest of the five hours we were there, became the major focus of the story. 500,000 readers would come away with a completely inaccurate impression of both the rescue and the rescuers.”
Randy C. Alcorn Is Rescuing Right? (Downers Grove, Illinois, Inter-Varsity Press, 1990) 134 – 135
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