Millionaire Publisher Admits Murder to Reporter, then Says Story Was Off the Record
Apr 7th, 2008 • Posted in: NewsMan says the whole thing was made up because he was drunk and prone to “severe exaggeration”
LONDON
In one of the more bizarre media-ethics issues in recent memory, a newspaper journalist in Britain was confronted with the dilemma of whether to use remarks that were made then characterized as “off the record,” and then retracted.
While the basic dilemma of putting something off the record retroactively does surface on occasion, this time it was a murder confession.
And in this instance, reports the BBC, the person who made the confession was a multimillionaire publisher who now denies it all, saying he was drunk at the time.
Felix Dennis, one of the founders of the counterculture magazine Oz, confessed to a murder “about 25 years ago” after sharing several bottles of wine with a Times of London reporter.
He told the Times’s Ginny Dougary that he pushed a man off a cliff in Connecticut because the man had been harassing a female friend of his. Dougary says that despite her repeated warnings that such a story would be “awkward” if it appeared in print, he stuck to the statement. The next day Dennis asked that the statement not be used, the Times reports.
In a follow-up communication, Dennis said his “severe exaggeration” was brought on by mood swings and interaction between medicine and alcohol.
Dougary, though, went ahead with the original story.
A spokesman for Dennis, when contacted by the London Daily Telegraph, claimed the story was “ridiculous” and declined to discuss it. Police in various locales, including the supposed Connecticut venue of the supposed murder, told the Telegraph they may investigate the claims, though no decisions had been made as of late last week.
The London-based Guardian published an analysis of the ethics issues surrounding the interview, noting that journalists have faced dilemmas about whether to quote remarks apparently made on the record but later retracted by interviewees.
“We’ve been here before,” writes the Guardian’s Chris Tryhorn. “Just last month an aide to U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama quit following an interview in the Scotsman which reported a disparaging remark about Hillary Clinton she claimed was ‘off the record.’”
Sources: BBC, Apr. 4 — Guardian, Apr. 2 — Times of London, Apr. 2.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Mar. 10 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 10 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 3 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 25 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 28.
Print This Story
Email This Story
[...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, Apr. 14 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 7 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 13, 2007 — Related Newsline story, Oct. [...]