Readers Weigh the ABCs of Ethics in Reporting

Faced with 12 situations where ethical judgments could influence news gathering, readers of The Times Ventura County Edition responded differently than did our staffers.

Here is a question-by-question comparison, including some of your comments. Vote totals vary because not every respondent answered every question.

1. An elderly man on Social Security earns extra money as a dog walker. While walking two poodles, he is robbed and the dogs are stolen. He begs us not to use his name, saying he is worried that the government will come after him for moonlighting and he is embarrassed. What do we do?

A. Write the story, using his name and every detail we can get. Names make news; the story would be weaker without a name and we have a legal right to identify him.

B. Write the story, but don’t identify him. There is no high moral purpose served by humiliating a senior citizen.

C. Don’t write it at all. A couple of stolen poodles aren’t worth it.

Staff responses: (a) 4; (b) 16; (c) 3.

Reader responses: (a) 4; (b) 41; (c) 8.

An Ojai resident said there is no high moral purpose served by humiliating “anyone.”

Another anonymous reader suggested printing the story and explaining to the man and the readers that Social Security recipients are allowed to receive some extra income.

2. The Ventura River is flooding. A woman and baby are trapped inside a car. Our photographer is at the scene, along with a photographer from a rival paper. The choice is whether to stay out of the story and take pictures or forget the assignment and try to help save the woman and baby.

A. Try to save them and let the competing paper have the picture.

B. Just take pictures. Newspapers have to maintain their neutrality at all costs.

Staff: (a) 21; (b) 1.

Readers: (a) 47; (b) 4.

A few people commented that this was a pretty obvious answer. One reader was shocked that anybody on the staff would have considered anything other than helping the victims.

3. A source at the Point Mugu Navy base gives us documents stamped Top Secret about an investigation into a suspected espionage ring at the base. He tells us he stole the documents from the base commander’s office.

A. Write the story even though it is based on stolen documents and may jeopardize an ongoing national security investigation.

B. Hold off on a story, but push hard to get base officials to tell us what is going on. If they decline, we will have to sit on the story for both legal and ethical reasons.

C. Although we hate to reveal a source, we turn our source in to the FBI for stealing classified documents.

Staff: (a) 7; (b) 18; (c) 0.

Readers: (a) 2; (b) 36; (c) 16.

A few readers suggested both B and C were appropriate. A couple said journalists should respect national security. One reader advised turning the information in to the FBI so the newspaper would not be an accomplice. Another said she would think long and hard, determining the source’s motive, before turning the source in to the FBI.

4. A 14-year-old boy wearing an “I Love Richard Nixon” hat has stolen a police car, and we are at the scene as he is arrested. We have a dramatic picture of his arrest but must decide whether it is worth running in view of the fact that he is a minor and the notoriety could hurt his chances of turning his life around.

A. Don’t run the picture, because he is a minor.

B. Run the picture anyway; it is a very good picture.

Staff: (a) 22; (b) 2.

Readers: (a) 31; (b) 22.

One reader wrote that if a person is old enough to commit the crime, he or she is old enough to have their name in the paper.

Another said, “Even journalists should abide by the law of the land.”

5. That same 14-year-old gets out of the stolen police car and is slapped hard in the face by a police officer. We have the photo of the event but it identifies the boy. What should we do?

A. Don’t print this picture either. Protecting a juvenile is too important, even though we now are also dealing with police brutality.

B. Print the photo, even though it reveals the boy’s identity.

C. Don’t run the photo, but turn our film over to authorities for use in a possible brutality prosecution.

Staff: (a) 3; (b) 16; (c) 4.

Readers: (a) 3; (b) 11; (c) 36.

A couple of readers suggested blurring or otherwise masking the boy’s face.

6. Police have invited us on a series of gang raids. They say we can accompany them into houses, and encourage us to act like we are police officers. What should we do?

A. Go. Don’t directly lie to any residents, but let them think we are police if that is what they are inclined to think.

B. Go, but insist on wearing press badges prominently. If somebody asks us to leave their home, do so.

C. Capitalize on the moment. This is a chance to interview and photograph lots of people. Try to make residents think we are police, without exactly saying so.

Staff: (a) 4; (b) 21; (c) 0.

Readers: (a) 9; (b) 39; (c) 5.

7. A city councilman tips us off the record that the city manager is going to resign. We have total faith in the accuracy of this tip but have agreed not to publish the story unless we can get it confirmed by somebody else. We can’t but are worried that the competition also has the story. What should we do?

A. Write the story and lie to our source later that we did get it confirmed, confident that he will believe us.

B. Don’t write the story if we can’t get a confirmation, because that is the agreement we made.

Staff: (a) 1; (b) 22.

Readers: (a) 4; (b) 49.

One reader wrote, “An agreement is an agreement.”

8. Chatting informally with our courthouse reporter, a local mayor reveals to us that he is going to resign at the end of the year for personal reasons. We suspect that he thinks this is off the record, but he hasn’t said so. Later, he calls to say his comments were off the record and says we cannot write the story. What should we do?

A. Write the story. He should know better than most what the rules are.

B. Hold off on the story, but try to get an exclusive for later on.

Staff: (a) 15; (b) 10.

Readers: (a) 9; (b) 43.

9. A 16-year-old boy has been fatally shot. Two 19-year-olds at the scene tell us they saw the shooting and give us the names of the shooters, who are in a rival gang. What should we do?

A. Our witnesses are adults. We should identify them by name with their photos. We know they have also told the police this information, so we should also identify the alleged shooters.

B. We have an obligation to protect the witnesses, even though they have freely talked to us. They could be in danger from the shooters, who are still at large. So we do not identify them as witnesses by name or photograph.

Staff: (a) 3; (b) 22.

Readers: (a) 11; (b) 42.

One reader suggested not identifying the witnesses until the police release the information--too many people are falsely accused because of the “scoop” mentality.

Said another, “There is no reason to give any gang bragging rights or a secondary target to go after.”

10. A tenant in a migrant farm camp tells us there are terrible conditions there, with younger workers actually handcuffed to their beds. We try to get in, but the owner of the property says we cannot trespass. We could sneak in with the tenant. What should we do?

A. Stay off the property. It’s a great story, but we cannot violate the trespass laws. We could be liable to criminal prosecution and lawsuit.

B. Go in, prepared to deal with any legal consequences later.

Staff: (a) 7; (b) 16.

Readers: (a) 21; (b) 31.

Several people said report the conditions to the police--journalists aren’t law enforcers.

11. We have good information that a local company is storing hazardous medical waste in open containers at the back of its property. We know we can’t get permission to go in and take pictures. But we could stack a couple of boxes up by the back fence and shoot over it into the property. What should we do?

A. Take the pictures.

B. Don’t do it. This could technically be a violation of privacy rights.

Staff: (a) 25; (b) 0.

Readers: (a) 31; (b) 18.

Again, a couple of readers suggested contacting the police.

12. We have learned that a local legislator is having an adulterous affair with a movie star. They are reportedly dining at an exclusive country club and we have photographers and reporters close to the scene. Suddenly we spot his car roaring out of the parking lot and coming toward us at high speed. What should we do?

A. Give chase in the hope that we can eventually get an interview and a photo of them together.

B. Stay by our cars, try to get a shot as they pass and then pack it in for the night. No way are we going to get sucked into this one.

Staff: (a) 1; (b) 22.

Readers: (a) 5; (b) 45.

One reader suggested a third option: forgetting the whole thing.

Other Comments:

In general, readers enjoyed the quiz and would like more in the future. A couple of people said that simply printing the quiz renewed some of their faith in The Times.

“Good idea!” wrote Joyce Carlson of Santa Paula. “Help us understand the issues.”

Albert Weaver of Newbury Park wondered if the quiz would have been more telling had we asked for the demographics of the responders. He would like us to follow up with an ethics quiz on law, with questions such as, “Do you think a lawyer should plead a client innocent if the lawyer knows he is guilty?”

One anonymous reader said most reporters are as ethical as most of the general population.

Eugenia Lynch of Ventura wrote that the only things that are important on these ethical issues in general are, “Will publishing this do any good, and if so, will it outweigh the harm it will do?”

“The media are now a sleaze information source primarily,” she wrote. “More time is spent on sleaze and bad things than good.”