Reporters, do your civic duty

USA Today | 7-16-02 | Philip Meye

[Temple Owl]

usa today 7-16

Reporters, do your civic duty

By Philip Meyer

At a seminar some years ago, a newspaper editor declared that if he walked out of his office building and saw a purse-snatcher robbing an unaccompanied woman, he would take notes for a news story, but neither go to her aid nor call the police.

Why not? Because a journalist is a creature of professional detachment who must report events without participating. Calling the cops would be an unacceptable form of participation, in the mind of this and many other editors.

Classroom hypotheticals, no matter how weird, have a way of coming to life.

Now the Chicago Sun-Times is being denounced by some of our more sanctimonious brethren for giving police a videotape purportedly showing rhythm-and-blues superstar R. Kelly having sex with a minor. The evidence, passed along to police in February, recently led to R. Kelly's indictment on 21 counts of child pornography. Last month, he pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Steve Rhodes, senior editor of Chicago magazine, says this action ''challenges a longstanding convention of journalism.'' He quotes some academic media ethicists who fret that the Sun-Times was blurring the distinction between cops and reporters, in the public mind.

But Sun-Times rock critic Jim DeRogatis and reporter Abdon Pallasch weren't acting like cops. They were acting like citizens, something we should all do, especially when maintaining secrecy could lead to further societal harm.

This debate brings to mind something George Washington told legislators in 1775: ''When we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen.''

If only the same could be said about assuming the journalist.

Where did this notion come from that journalists should maintain a haughty indifference to all they survey? The idea is not as old and entrenched as some in the current generation of practitioners think. One way a good investigative reporter gets information from sources, for example, is to give them some information in return. This mutual exploitation of sources and journalists is as old as movable type.

Defining cops as bad guys who need to be kept at arm's length became prevalent during the civil-rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s, when all kinds of authority were being questioned by an emerging baby-boom generation. In that period, going to jail to protect a source became a badge of honor and a good career move for a journalist.

Those developments were a healthy reaction to the previous passivity journalists displayed in the face of the government authoritarianism of the 1950s. But all good things get run into the ground eventually, and the model of the aloof journalist who claims to be above the responsibilities of ordinary citizens generated its own reaction: ''civic journalism.'' One of its premises was that it is OK, even good, for journalists to care about what happens in their communities. That movement, backed by some charitable foundations, has about run its course. The fact that it was controversial shows how morally confused we are.

A reporter who gains information in return for a promise of confidentiality for its source is another matter. Keeping such promises is a matter of professional pride, even if it leads to civil disobedience. But no such promise had been made in the Sun-Times case.

In an editorial defending its move, the Sun-Times said that ''newspapers are not natural enemies of law enforcement.'' And, the editorial added, ''we do not view crime indifferently.''

An independent press is necessary, but the concept of independence does not have to be blown up to full-scale adversarial mode. Objectivity in the gathering and analysis of news is necessary, but such objectivity does not mean being uncaring.

It should be acceptable for journalists to care and to do their duty as citizens. Indeed, even the editor who claimed that he wouldn't report the hypothetical purse-snatcher admitted that he had a limit.

What, the editor was asked at the seminar, would he do if he emerged from his newspaper's building and saw a criminal breaking into the newspaper's sales rack and stealing the newspaper's quarters?

That would be different, he said. In that case, he would call the cops.

Philip Meyer, who holds the Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors.

[Temple Owl]

Reporters are generally willing to cooperate with law authorities. It is the smart-@$$ editors who have stupid self-imposed ethics.

[smith288]

A reporter has a moral obligation not to report leaks... I would prosecute both the reporter and the leaker if i had my way. They both know it is damaging to the security of our nation so they should be treated as spies.

[Ciexyz]

One reporter I know claims that she exhibits absolute neutrality concerning civic duties, especially politics, because it may interfere with her reporting. For instance, she does not attend political rallies or express a personal political opinion. It's as if she feels bound by a self-imposed Hatch act. But she interprets this to mean she can't even attend a community hearing on building a new swimming pool, because people in her community know that she's a reporter and will interpret any personal opinion of hers as that of her paper.

[smith288]

Then she is an anal boob

[Tacis]

"A reporter who gains information in return for a promise of confidentiality for its source is another matter. Keeping such promises is a matter of professional pride, even if it leads to civil disobedience."

EXTREME BARBRA STREISAND!!!! The reporter is acquiring a property right, something that has value today and, perhaps, in the future only if he keeps the source secret. He is paid to report objectively, not decide to censor the name of the source. Presstitutes perfom ONLY in terms of self-interest and NEVER in the interests of objectivity or "the peoples' right to know."

The "deepthroat" silliness is probably the greatest criminal abuse of the 1st ammendement we've ever had. These censors have kept from us the identity of the person (if such a person actually exists) who toppled a president. These are not people to be respected, they are criminals who are withholding, for their own gain, information, news, that is of concern to us all.

[archy]

At a seminar some years ago, a newspaper editor declared that if he walked out of his office building and saw a purse-snatcher robbing an unaccompanied woman, he would take notes for a news story, but neither go to her aid nor call the police.

Why not? Because a journalist is a creature of professional detachment who must report events without participating. Calling the cops would be an unacceptable form of participation, in the mind of this and many other editors.

Classroom hypotheticals, no matter how weird, have a way of coming to life.

No problem then. Just don't expect any help in return when one of the presstitutes goes missing.

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If you have any information regarding this case please contact:
    Mason City Police Department: 1-641-421-3636

Name: Jody Huisentruit
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Missing: 06/27/95
From: Mason City, IA
Sex/Race: Female/White
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Blonde
Height: 5' 3"
Weight: 120 lbs
Circumstances: Jodi left for work at KIMT, News Channel 3, where she was a news anchor at approximately 4:00am. Personal items were found near her car in the apartment complex. Witnesses indicate that they heard a scream. Investigators are looking for a mid-80's white Ford Econoline van. Reward in excess of $30,000.00.