By Andrew DeWitt

In this paper, I will explore five ethics dilemmas that I have encountered in my years practicing journalism. Each situation is a little different and can be used as a case study in a journalism class or newsroom that creates a group discussion. I don’t believe there are any 100 percent right answers in any of these situations but I don’t regret the choices I made.

Case study #1: At the 2009 MSHSAA State Cross Country championships, I was covering the event for the Southeast Missourian. In the class 1 girls race, a foreign exchange student from Germany that I was responsible for covering won the race. Previously, her mom explained that the Missourian had made her sound bad and she really didn’t want to talk to the paper. I thought to myself that’s just not happening because she is the biggest story of the team’s I’m covering here. So I talked to her host mom and set up a deal where I would call her host mom with the quotes Luisa said. Her mom would verify the quotes were okay and the story would be published as is.  I didn’t need to call her mom and verify quotes because I was using a voice recorder but I set up this extra level of support because of the situation of interviewing someone who’s second language is English.  This way, the subject was comfortable and I was comfortable writing the complete story because I know the sports editor who I don’t really know wasn’t going to get a nasty voicemail from the host parent.

Case study #2:  In high school, I discovered the story of the star basketball player. DeJuan White had all the talent in the world but had transferred to my suburban school after his sophomore year at an inner-city school. In addition to that, DeJuan’s best friend had killed himself his freshman year and it tore apart DeJuan. He got into drugs and started leanings towards joining a gang. That changed when his former AAU teammate Joey Deas convinced DeJuan to transfer to Oak Park and play basketball.  In reporting this redemption story, I learned that DeJuan was living in an apartment with his brother, which means that he wasn’t supposed to be attending Oak Park and playing basketball according to MSHSAA rules. I talked to my high school adviser about the situation and we both quickly agreed that DeJuan was bending the rules by living with his brother instead of his parents. It’s not like he was living with the Deas family.

Case study #3: In the spring 2009, I covered the Missouri baseball team for the Columbia Missourian. I incurred the problem of previously being a fan of this team before I became a reporter for the team. This created a positive and a negative effect. The positive effect was that I knew the history of the team and what each player had done during his time on the team. I knew the problems of the team and the strengths. This helped me when interviewing the players and coaches because I asked strong questions that demonstrated I had followed the team before just showing up to be the beat writer. On the down side, a Missouri fan blogger emailed me and asked me if I had been a fan before. I told him I was but I had never criticized any of the players on the anonymous message boards. I thought transparency was the best answer in dealing with this question. In a private conversation with the pitching coach, he asked me if I had followed the team before covering them this year. I did the same thing and told him I had been going to games for three years before covering the team. This actually grew my respect for this coach and at the end of the year, he pulled me aside after an NCAA Regional game and gave me a scoop.

Case study #4: My senior year of high school, the golf coach who was sick of students abusing drugs and alcohol in school. So he proceeded to propose that the school district add drug testing for its students involved in school activities. The initial vote happened at a faculty meeting before school started. The dilemma I faced was do I make this story public before it had even gone to any real management discussions with administration and the school district.

Not only did I raise the issue of drug testing in my school newspaper but on the same day in the Kansas City Star ran an article by me about the same issue.  The only problem with the Star’s article was that the headline was in what I like to call “9/11” font. It was huge and in red letters. I was pulled out of class for most of the day and the phones rang off the hook. The issue was noticed across the city and hearings were held. It was never passed due to budget concerns and other issues but the issue was discussed because of my articles at least.

Case study #5 This isn’t a specific case study but explaining that every day there are ethic decisions to be made. Sometimes its just the order of the briefs or the placement of the controversial story. Sometimes its just deciding whether a minority should be on the page every day.  I think these little decisions are largely ignored by everyone talking about big ethical decisions but to me they are just as important and can lead to an angry readership just as easily as a big ethical decision.

By Walter Williams

I believe in the profession of journalism.

I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.

I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.

I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.

I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.

I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends.

I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.

I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.