The ambiguity of being wanted

Journalists can tell you a thing or three about what it can mean to be wanted – most of them either unpleasant or seriously dangerous.   The first common experience of being a wanted, or in-demand journalist is that of being a “useful idiot”. Almost everyone who signals their desire to talk to the media simply wants to sell something. It might be a “scientific” opinion, an individual political image, a panacea for assorted social ills, or perhaps an ideology and entire political system. If general interest media are the seller’s target, it is not an idea that is being peddled. It might be an (overblown) success story, a brand, or a “unique” and “unmissable” (neither term being quite logical) vehicle, fashion item, food concept, travel destination, smoke, drink, bargain, free lunch, or other con.    The second, rarer but still all too common, experience of being a wanted journalist is that