The Jeremiad Over Journalism

―Had far ranging talk with Jens Nauntofte (protect), foreign news editor Copenhagen daily
‗Information‘ and Middle East correspondent for Danish Broadcasting Service. Par[aragraph]
2 summarizes remarkably incisive interview he just concluded with ex-pri[me] min[inster] Al
Ayni few hours earlier. (…) USINT comments: Believe Nauntofte caught Al Ayni in
extraordinarily candid moment.‖ 379
Nauntofte‘s interview with Al Ayni, according to the telegram, led the Department of State to
reevaluate its policy in Yemen, as they concluded that the National Front, based on Nauntofte‘s
account, was perhaps not as weak, as ex-patriots would have the Americans believe. 380 The value of
Nauntofte‘s contacts in the region was also apparent in connection to the Danish journalist‘s
research on the Eritrean Liberation Front where American officials in the Eritrean and Ethiopian
capital were encouraged to engage Nauntofte in conversation.
―Dep[ar]t[ment] interested any additional comments Asmara or Addis can discreetly glean
from Nauntofte concerning ELF organization, particularly names of ELF faction leaders.‖ 381
Yet, despite the United States‘ intelligence community‘s worldwide effort to create a more positive
view of America after 1945, there was also resentment over the ―black‖ methods employed by the
CIA. In Scandinavia and the United States the years between 1975 and 1977 proved to be years
where previously unknown negative stories about the CIA broke in the media..
379 McClintock, "Al Ayni Interview with Danish Journalist," (RG 59. General Records of the Department of State.
Subject Numeric Files 1970-1973. Culture and Information. PPB 9 - Chinat 1/1/70 thru PPB 9 - EGY 2/1/72. Box 427.
April 13, 1971).
380 Jens Nauntofte knowingly or unknowingly thereby seems to have offered more information to the American
intelligence officers than The New York Times‘ Terence Smith recommended six years later. See Smith, "C.I.A.
Contacts with Reporters: Officials and Newsmen Call Method Legitimate." Page 13. Smith here writes, ―Another, more
delicate problem arises when an intelligence officer turns the tables and attempts to question a correspondent on
interviews he may have had or places he may have visited. Such situations occur frequently, and there is honest debate
among journalists today about what information, if any, can be legitimately passed along. The general rule, accepted by
many correspondents, is that a reporter may discuss anything he would - or, ideally, already has - put into print. But the
temptation for a trade-off of information is always there, and many reporters have no doubt succumbed.‖
381 D. H. Shinn, "Visit of Danish Journalist to Ethiopia," (RG 59. General Records of the Department of State. Subject
Numeric Files 1970-1973. Culture and Information. PPB 9 - Chinat 1/1/70 thru PPB 9 - EGY 2/1/72. Box 427. April 13
1971).
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