Posted on 02/24/2011 1:20:00 AM PST by Libloather
Fake Phone Calls: News or Not?
Updated: Feb 23, 2011 8:18 PM EST
Many news organizations, I believe, are walking a fine ethical line by playing the recording of a prank phone call made to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker by the founder of an alternative website. It may be news that the phone call was placed and that someone in Walkers office even took the call and switched it to the governor, but what was said is not "real" and must be treated carefully. Our credibility is on the line.
Ian Murphy, the founder of the website the Buffalo Beast, placed the telephone call to Walker's office. He lied to get through, claiming he was David Koch a wealthy Wisconsin businessman and acquaintance of Walker. Murphy proceeded to ask Walker questions and make comments about the current crisis in the state. Murphy used profanity, baited the Governor about liberal in the media and the democrats who have been hiding in Illinois to avoid doing their job. It was a setup. It was fiction.
Within hours of the release of the audio from that fake phone call, the Society of Professional Journalists issued a warning to its members saying that any misrepresentation when gathering information is ethically wrong. SPJ Ethics Committee Chairman Kevin Z. Smith said, "To lie to a source about your identity and to bait that source into making comments that are inflammatory is inexcusable and has no place in journalism."
(Excerpt) Read more at kusi.com ...
I think Ian Murphy committed a crime. A few phone calls will be made in the morning to find out.
NY Penal Law ARTICLE 190 S 190.25 - Criminal impersonation - 2nd degree - class A misdemeanor
What imaginary credibility would that be?
The one that is floating around down in the sewer.
At least he talked to them, unlike Mary Landrieu. She disabled her phones so she wouldn’t have to listen to the constituents.
David Koch may be able to go after this guy if he can prove damages, pain or suffering.
Impersonation.
Illegal Wire tapping.
Invasion of privacy.
Stewart and Madcow played parts of that call I believe.
Special-Ed Schultz too.
Rush played essentially the whole thing.
That's stating the obvious. This is one of the first things you learn in journalism school. This falls under the category of journalistic ethics.
It’s a crime to have impersonated Koch.
The crime of pretending to be another individual in order to deceive others and gain some advantage.
The crime of false impersonation is defined by federal statutes and by state statutes that differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Now, these types of tactics are the high point of "professional" "journalism."
Aren’t prank calls, lying, and impersonation taught in journalism 101? After all, if journalists are trying to “change the world” rather than report facts, it must be OK to throw ethics away for such a high-minded ideal.
If this had occurred in Florida, he would be facing jail time. It is a felony to record any phone call without the permission of the receiver. A prank is NOT permission.
Am wondering same. The credibility per the fiction that the New York Times delivers daily? MSNBC. CNN? The fictional script that Obama speaks to and is reported, unchallenged, daily?
This was a creepy scenario by MO. Unfortunately, for Ian Murphy, a larger truth was captured. Unfortunately, for Ian, this was not the animal he was looking for.
And Kudos to Governor Walker for not taking bait - nor recognizing it, really - and for not stepping into Murphy's phone trap.
This should be an 'aha' moment for many Lefties; but it will not be, of course. . .
I didn’t hear their actual report, but NPR’s All Things Considered Kept teasing this story through their broadcast last night, referring only to ‘someone’ having placed the prank call to Walker and then released it, with their angle being ‘how did this happen?’
Both NY and WI are one-party recording states. Legally, there was no requirement to notify Walker.
Professional journalists?????????????????????
If ever there was an oxymoron........
Did they say a word about JournOlista?
That of professionals. The SPJ has done some odd things recently, but over its history, it has been one of the few groups within journalism that has tried to fight the downward slide of the media. Believe it or not, there are some true professionals out there still; I agree with the SPJ's fight to support that minority.
They have even given money directly to conservative student newspapers that have been victims of theft and vandalism by Lefties, replacing their losses in full.
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