Ethical Journalism: Is It An Oxymoron?

1. You are a reporter and an important source invites you to dinner. The source says it is the only way you will get the information you need and insists on paying. Based on past practice, your newspaper will refuse to reimburse your costs. What do you do?
We compromise – I go to dinner but I pay for my own food. As it is mostly ‘meeting halfway’ the person may agree. If not… I would probably let them pay and get the information, sorry!

2. While the travel editor was on sick leave, you took a two-week trip to Spain, courtesy of a major airline. During the trip, the airline insisted that the resulting story be positive, and demanded the right to vet and change your copy, saying an advertising contract depended upon it. It was the worst trip of your life. What do you do?
Mention all the positives that aren’t lies. If there aren’t any, I’d look back into the history of the airline and maybe refer back to some positive stories or reports about their quality of service. I wouldn’t directly associate my opinion with those comments, but would include them to the airline happy. I would include a couple of negatives, interspersing them with the positives and if possible taking the spotlight off the airline overall with more focus on the weather, a specific flight attendant, etc.

3. A reliable source tells you of an error in your story, which has been published in this morning’s paper. This means that you must notify the editor and compose a correction for publication. But the source is not concerned about the error and insists that this not be done. Instead they want you to write another small story, based on a new angle. Your admission of error will cost you a payrise. What do you do?
It would pain me greatly… but I would have to notify the editor. The risk of it getting out regardless of what the source says would be far worse in terms of ever getting a payrise than admitting it on the day of publication.

4. You are the court reporter on a major regional newspaper. A teenager convicted of a prostitution offence approaches you. She is beside herself with emotion and says that if you write the story her parents will disown her, her friends will shun her, and worst of all, her partner – who is terminally ill, who she is supporting financially and emotionally in the last days of his life, and who thinks she works in a bank – will not be able to handle finding out how she really earns her money. Your newspaper normally always reports such cases. What will you do? Why?
I will report it. There is never a good time to report a story like that in any case. It will never be something the person wants made public, this story should not be given special treatment.