I lied in an interview to a reporter to make people think I'm helping the public
Do you think this is going to backfire?
I don't care about the harm I cause to the public.
It is not okay to lie! I do not think that it was okay to lie to the reporter, even if the damage the lie caused was going to be minimal.
I don't care about public opinion
You might not care about public opinion, but it's still wrong to lie. It might also mislead the public and lead them to make decisions that they wouldn't have otherwise made. You should be truthful when talking in public.