May 6, 2005 2:44 PM
Important ethical issue
This story about the mayor of Spokane raises an important ethical question. Is it appropriate for a news organization to disguise itself to get a story?
Then read a Seattle Times story about the journalistic issues it raises.
Personally, I'm very uncomfortable with what the Spokane paper did. But I respect what Steve Smith has said about the process his paper went through to come to the point where it created a fictional character to interact with the mayor. I think there are obvious times where it's appropriate for the journalist to be part of the story. For example, our columnist Bill Johnson writing in a personal style from Iraq. But our readers know Bill and the soldiers he was with knew he was a columnist and could read what he was writing about them on our Web site. Going undercover is problematic. I only did it once as a reporter. The resulting story in The Toronto Star led to a letter to the editor from the head of a major journalism school excoriating me personally. During a national postal strike when it appeared the statements of the government were out of synch with the experience of the public, I got a job as a replacement worker under my real name, without revealing my newspaper affiliation, and worked inside one of the country's largest sorting centers. I discovered that there was a huge gap between what authorities were saying publicly and what the people running the plant told me when they didn't know that I was a reporter. Was I wrong to go in that way? I didn't think so. I thought it was the only way I could get the story. Of course it was only worth it because it was an important story involving a nation's postal system. That must have been what Steve Smith was thinking about the story of Spokane's mayor. I think it took guts to do what the paper did.
May 6, 2005
9:16 PM
Ted Barnes writes:
Listening to John Temple's to your unending braggadocio is like nails on a chalkboard. What do you want us to say? WOW! What a story! You must be brilliant! But, for those of us familiar with your byline in Albuquerque, we know how boring those stories were. So, stop bragging. You weren't bad at getting information, but you were and are an amazingly talentless writer. The amazing part is that someone put you in charge of a large newspaper.
May 7, 2005
11:17 AM
Anita Keo writes:
Mr. Barnes, you should edit your writing before you criticize someon else! However, your point is well-taken. I catch myself grazing in Temple's columns and blogs to amuse myself with his ridiculous self-congratulatory and egotistical opinions. In fact, I've sent plenty of links across the country. It's pretty unbelievable.