HOW I WRANGLED MY CLINTON SCOOP

I decided I would try to bring my tape recorder with me into the White House reception during that trip in 1995, just on the off chance I might get an opportunity to fire a question at the president.

I am still baffled as to how I got away with it. My goal was to get an on-the-hoof interview.

The Clintons were ‘working the rope’ when I noticed that Gerry Burns – chief executive of Fermanagh District Council – was in line to meet them shortly.

I slipped over to Gerry and warned him that I was going to try to get a few words with Clinton. Just when the president was about to shake hands with Gerry, he said to him, ‘Mr President, this is a decent lad from home. He’s a reporter, maybe you’ll have a word with him?’

‘Mr President,’ I said, ‘there is a lot of speculation back home that you intend to visit Northern Ireland. Is there any truth in that?’

Clinton replied, ‘We are working on a schedule and if we can get it together, we’ll be there.’

Scoop! My only interest now was in getting my story back to my news desk in Downtown Radio. One of the killers about reporting from the US is the time difference. However, this was definitely a lead story. It was the first time that we had heard from the horse’s mouth that the president of the United States intended to visit Northern Ireland. Eventually, I managed to dispatch the

Clinton interview as well as the audio from Gerry Adams’ press conference after his meeting with Mayhew.

To this day, no one has ever asked me, ‘Eamonn, how did you get that exclusive interview with President Clinton?’

My scoop was ignored. It’s all about the money in commercial companies.