European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday april 17, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary William Safire gotcha tactics of entrapment Are a crime you Are paying More for Stamps these Days to cover the salaries of postal inspectors who spend bureaucrat years a and hundreds of thousands of dollars a trying to induce innocent customers into committing a crime by buying porn. Something is wrong when Law officers Are allowed to go into the temptation business. Last year the popinjays who passes for a . Attorney in the District of Columbia set up the mayor with a sex lure. When the government temptress persuaded the target seeking sex to take drugs the police burst in to arrest the entrapped victim for accepting the Justice departments invitation to a crime. The end was used to justify corrupt Means too Many thoughtlessly applauded the  that loathsome example of entrapment must have been an inspiration to the prurient inspectors who were running up the Price of postage Stamps by dangling photos of nude teen agers in front of a Law abiding Nebraska Farmer. After two years of official titillation he was ensnared. The Justice department fought All the Way to the supreme court for the Joy of making an example out of the Man the Law turned into a criminal. The court has finally curbed the crime manufacturers. A government agents May not originate a criminal design a wrote Justice Byron r. White for the 5-to-4 majority a implant in an innocent persons mind the disposition to commit a criminal act and then induce commission of the crime so that the government May  that assertion of a citizens rights seems so obvious that it is amazing that four justices approved anything goes entrapment. Fortunately the Bush appointees David h. Souter and Clarence Thomas voted with the majority to strike Down the immoral prosecution suggesting that Antonin Scalia May not be their Svengali. The notion that entrapment is Permis sible if a a predisposition can be shown by mind Reading police is an assault on the presumption of innocence the Bedrock of our Liberty. A persons Mailbox is part of his Castle which the King May not enter. The court struck a blow for privacy a personal Freedom a in a week that the Media thrice did much to undermine it. In the Manuel a. Noriega trial reporters zeroed in on the juror who held out against conviction. That san abuse of the Power of inquiry. An individual juror should not fear exposure of an unpopular stand inside the Sanctity of the jury room. A decision is the whole jury a and reporters should not try to single out heroes or villains. In the trial by exposure of Arthur Ashe a Public figure not running for office Usa today a editors decided that aids is always news. If the Gannett organization forced out the Story As reported it brought unnecessary Pam to a family and discredit on itself. In the frenzy to expose every Rumor about a candidates personal habits Abc news trotted out Anonymous testimony from police officers about democratic presidential hopeful Jerry Browne so a toleration of drugs in his Home. If they Are telling the truth the officers Are corrupt a guilty of suppressing evidence of a crime for 10 years. These belated accusers Are not victims of sex harassment willing to come Forward in a lawsuit As in the sen. Brock Adams affair these Are men with badges and journalists should not allow them to make charges from ambush. Last weeks three invasions of privacy a of a juror a sports celebrity and a candidate a Are evidence of a a gotcha a atmosphere that perverts legitimate inquiry. Investigators must acknowledge limits and the place for limitation to begin is with the guardian of limits a with the Law. C the new York times Mik Etowla for a  ins us m to a Kroes sew x>2lsydney h. Schanberg shame on press for robbing was there a compelling need to publish the fact that Arthur Ashe has aids the editor at Usa today who forced Ashe to disclose his illness gives the following explanation a Public figures Are Public  such poetry. Such profundity. Such wind. T this Nobleman a Gene Policinski Usa today s managing editor sports a explained his behaviour both in interviews and in a byline Story in his own paper. He said the paper had received information that Ashe had aids and a there was no question that this was a significant news  Why was it significant a a great . Athlete could be critically ill. If he had cancer or a heart attack As he did in 1979 it was and is  so Policinski is telling us that this is in the same category of news As ashes open heart surgery in 1979 and again in 1983. But ashes heart bypass operations received Only modest coverage a mostly items on the sports Ashe himself told us about those medical problems. Aids on the other hand carries a chilling stigma like leprosy or worse and this is Why Ashe wanted to keep his condition private. The stigma is foul and unjust but it exists which is Why Policinski knew that unlike the news of the heart problems this Story about Ashe would make front Page headlines around the world which it did. A Ait was for this reason that Usa today took away ashes privacy. Others in the sports world had known of ashes illness for years and saw no pull cd it la rpm a Only cruelty in exposing it so they did t. But Uba today smelled a scoop and could t resist. Ashe confronted by Policinski a reporter with inva Sive questions asked to speak with Policinski himself. By phone Ashe asked the editor according to Policinski a own published account a a if he could have 36 hours or such time he said he might want to use to Call friends other journalists or prepare to make a Public  Policinski refused the request. �?o1 responded by telling him that As a journalist it was not my role to help him plan a press conference and that it was inappropriate for me to withhold a news Story that i could confirm a Policinski said. A such journalistic Independence such High mindedness such refusal to Compromise the Public a right to know this a significant news  such Hogwash. What was gnawing at this editor was the possibility that if Ashe began making phone Calls to Tell relatives and close friends that the Story was about to come out another news organization might get wind of it and publish it before the Noble Usa today could. As it is Usa today not getting an on the record confirmation from Ashe or anyone else did not publish the Story that first night. Ashe however fully expected to see the Story on the Newsstands the next morning so he made those phone Calls and scheduled a news conference for the next afternoon. When Usa today Learned the next morning of ashes plans it quickly sent the Story out on its wire service and put it in its International edition a before the news conference. What does this say about our profession it says we have strolled mindlessly without real discussion or introspection into the Era of peephole journalism. Why Are we doing things that Are the reverse of the Way we did them Back in 1979, when we got to know about ashes heart problem because he told us about it. We Ashe of privacy did no to think then that it was our Job to a a out him if he chose not to Tell us something about his private life. What is it that has changed we done to seem to have a persuasive answer. We just keep making up after the fact rationalizations such As that in the past we were too protective of Public figures and therefore it is now our duty to put microphones in their underwear. Where is the Public policy Issue in the Ashe Case it does no to exist. The Only Issue is prurient interest. That is what has changed. The press now serves the prurient interest. Lets just admit this openly if we want to keep steady on the peephole course. Our National voyeur Barbara Walters interviewed Ashe on television. Ashe told Walters that he Felt victimized by the press. He said he had wanted to choose his own tune to make his illness Public because i can still Lead a Normal life and i wanted the Freedom to do that. Once you Are in our society now tagged with having aids you Are in some Way stigmatized and you cannot live a Normal life  Walters instantly confirmed the stigma with a question from the recesses of her own pinched mind. Referring to ashes explanation that he had contracted the disease from contaminated blood transfusions she said a i have to ask you this sensitive question. Are you certain that it Wasny to through sexual activity or through drug use or Needle use a Ashe said he was certain. I guess you could Call it the maturing of America. Barbara Walters leading us As Champion of the prurient interest. And the rest of us applauding. Cd nowadays