I witnessed a fatal stall, spin and burn crash. I also helped put the fire out, recovered the remains and did the report on the crash. After getting back to the station a few hours later I get a call from a newspaper reporter wanting to interview me. I explained that I would be happy to talk to her BUT department policy required it to be approved thru management. She came back with "But you witnessed the crash didn't you?" to which I responded yes and told her to get approval thru the boss and we could talk.
The next day when I get to work at 4PM I have to see the Chief first thing who starts chewing my butt for talking to the press....he shows me the article in which I was quoted as saying a bunch of crap I didn't say and wouldn't have used the terms used in the article.
When I called the paper several times over the next few days the reporter "wasn't available". That was in 1980, I still won't buy their newspaper.
I had the same thing happen. There was a bankruptcy/merger thing going on back after 9-11. Company policy was no interviews allowed. Some reporters caught me at an outstation gate while I was waiting for the jet to pull in. They started asking questions and my Captain slithered off because she could tell what the game was. I was relatively new but I also understood the rules.
I politely declined to answer questions. Then came the famous, "Okay off the record." I said, "You cannot quote me on anything I say, but basically company A bought company B, the planes will be repainted, and it will be business as usual."
Next day, nasty phone call from the Chief Pilot chewing my arse off for giving an interview. When the first wave of jets came back in that morning there were half a dozen copies of the paper--with a full page article extensively "quoting" me--distributed liberally about the crew room. Took a long time to live that one down!
