There is one aspect of being a well-connected student/student journalist that I hope disappears when I get to the real world.
First, a little background: Ever since I began reporting at the university level, my editors have assigned me to cover the hard news - stuff like controversy, crime and corruption. However, since I joined my university newspaper I’ve had to investigate and report on friends and acquaintances a few times.
This is no easy task, and through every phone call, every interview, every word I typed, I weighed every possible conflict of interest.
The
SPJ Code of Ethics tells us to avoid these conflicts, whether they are real or perceived.
I had not yet heard of SPJ, much less its Code, the first time I had to help investigate a friend and fellow student suspected of embezzlement. Even then, I felt like a dog for putting my friend and myself through the necessary questioning.
I was the only reporter who had contact with the suspect, who thought she had dealt with her legal troubles to its conclusion. She had withdrawn from school and moved back to her home state. So when I found out the district attorney was filing charges and asking for a warrant for her arrest, I was the only person who could secure a follow-up interview.
When I contacted her with the new information and asked if she would talk to the lead reporter about it, I gave her the option of discontinuing our personal relationship:
“I understand how this seems,” I wrote to her through instant messenger.
I had engaged in this conversation with her before, with the intent of asking about the charges.
“I did try to weigh the ethics of a personal relationship with the ethics of ensuring the truth, along with developing my understanding of my job in the news,” I wrote. “I just wanted to clear up everything if I could. If you think we can no longer continue with that relationship, I’ll concede.”
We haven’t spoken since.
Further education in journalism and knowledge of the SPJ Code helped me more when last month, a good friend’s fraternity was busted for underage drinking.
I got the call when the cops showed up to bust the party. They had been alerted when an 18-year-old pledge was hospitalized. I brought a camera and took pictures. The police gave me initial information, and I talked to the dean of students, who had also arrived on the scene.
I was the only reporter available over the Labor Day weekend, so the task of reporting fell on my shoulders. I felt the burden heavily.
Because of our closeness, there could have been a perceived conflict of interest in my breaking news reporting of my friend’s fraternity brothers. However, I virtually walked on eggshells around the newspaper’s critics, and I made the point clear to all parties that my report would only contain facts like the police report and the fraternity’s official statement.
I assigned the follow-up story and subsequent investigation to another writer.
All of this creates a question of ethics at the collegiate level. My university is relatively small, as is the news staff here, and I occasionally must interview and report news about people I know. It is a disappointing fact of life, and I’d bet other student journalists wrestle with it, too.
Here are some tips that might help:
Avoid covering a beat that puts friends under your investigative microscope. And when you are forced to report about friends, make sure everyone knows about your relationship – especially the editor.
Limit the organizations you are involved in. Washington Post Vice President Ben Bradlee has said a journalist should not be a part of any political organization. He even told PBS reporter Jim Lehrer
the best rule is to avoid membership in any organization.
Help your news organization build a solid reputation of ethics and responsibility. Fewer critics, fewer criticisms. However, that doesn’t give you a green card to disregard perceived conflicts of interest. Do everything in your power to avoid them.
-Dale Denwalt II