-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Vineyard Gazette Reporter Unapproachable Date: Fri, 06 Aug 1999 14:09:51 -0400 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Folks, I just phoned the Martha's Vineyard Gazette, and spoke with a woman there. I asked her about the statement, in the early reports of the John F. Kennedy Jr. plane crash, that a reporter for the Martha's Vineyard Gazette had witnessed an explosion in the sky around the time of the crash. She replied, "Oh, that story was completely bogus. What really happened was that someone was shooting off fireworks on Falmouth." "Falmouth?" I said, "Is that an island?" "Falmouth," she said, "is the closest point to Martha's Vineyard." [At this point we ought to go to "mapsonus" or something, and locate a map of Falmouth and Martha's Vineyard.] I said, "But this reporter witnessed an explosion in the SKY." She countered, "Well, they were shooting rockets up in the air, or something like that." Fearing that I might scare her off if I continued along this line of inquiry, I asked, "May I speak with the reporter who witnessed this?" "Oh, no," she replied nervously, "we can't do that." I said, "Oh, that's strange. What would be the problem with speaking to a reporter?" She repeated, "We can't permit that." I said, "Okay, can you at least give me his name?" "No, we can't do that, either," she persisted." Then she added, "He no longer works for us," almost as if she were making it up, just to turn me away. And then when I responded in a surprised "Ohhh", she suddenly realized that that comment made matters worse, and, in a jolt of vexation, she sputtered, "Oh, no, no -- it has nothing to do with that incident; he went back to school." "Oh," I said, "so is he a journalism student?" After an answerless pause, I thanked her and said goodbye. I think she was relieved. What do you make of this, folks? What questions would you have asked if you had called the Martha's Vineyard Gazette, at (508)627-4311 ? What questions would you ask if you should decide to call the Martha's Vineyard Gazette at (508)627-4311 ? John DiNardo [EMAIL PROTECTED]
