Journalists frequently report about matters that most people consider private. We intrude because a news event thrusts a private person into the public eye. We inquire about private matters because we want to show the personal impact of a public issue. These issues present ethical considerations that reporters, photographers and journalists must consider. Several principles help in making these decisions. The toughest decisions come when these principles conflict:
Coverage of children Newspapers must cover many issues involving children and adolescents – ranging from sports stories to stories about sexual abuse and other crimes to stories about education. Setting rules that fit all situations is difficult where minors are involved. But a general guideline here is that newspapers should be more lenient in respecting privacy of juveniles, whether that means withholding identification, withholding pertinent information or deciding not to publish a story entirely. Where possible, you should discuss the story and your considerations with the youth’s parents or guardians as well as the youth himself or herself. Breaking stories can present changing situations. Most newspapers would not run the name of a youth who is a victim of sexual abuse. When a minor is missing, the public interest argues for publishing name, photograph, description, habits and other information that might help the public recognize the youth. When the girl later surfaces and reports to authorities that she was raped, the newspaper can’t unidentify her. No solution seems right: Stop using her name; withhold the information about the assault; print that she was raped. If you can, discuss the dilemma with the girl and/or her parents and/or people who are helping the family deal with the trauma, such as relatives, pastors, police or counselors. You might stop using the name because continuing to use it seems like trumpeting it. If the abductor is not charged immediately, you might consider awaiting legal action to report the rape allegation. Perhaps details of the situation will argue for continuing to use her name because it would be absurd to think her identity would fade in the public eye (say, for instance, she’s a prominent high school athlete who was well known before the abduction or the daughter of a community leader). Whatever you decide, an editor’s note or column might explain the dilemma and the decision to readers and reassure them (and the family) that you took the decision seriously. The youth or the family might have no interest in an interview at the time, but follow up after a few months (perhaps after the abductor’s trial) and see if you can get an interview then. Ask how tough it was to have such an intimate and traumatic event aired publicly. Incest cases present other difficult choices because identifying the defendant and describing the assault as incest identifies the victim. In these cases, you might report the crime but not the relationship. Sometimes, however, the relationship is an important part of the story. Let’s say it’s a foster parent who’s arrested. That raises valid questions about the state’s screening and supervision of foster parents. If you are doing stories about sensitive matters such as special education, mental illness, foster care or juvenile justice, work with teachers and parents to find youths whose families recognize the benefits of public education about the issue. If events thrust families into the news dealing with these issues, consider approaches that minimize the invasion while still examining the issue. Athletes who welcome the spotlight when the press records their achievements suddenly shy from it when discipline or health issues keep them from competing. Your readers have a valid interest in knowing why a youth is missing the state tournament. But a teen also has a valid interest in privacy over a health or disciplinary matter. You should make decisions based primarily on your newsroom’s values and your own consideration of the conflicting factors. The fact that another news outlet decides to use a name or a fact does not make your decision for you. But coverage by other media or the extent of public knowledge in the community does affect how much your decision could harm someone’s privacy. For instance, if the whole school knows a star athlete is missing the state tournament because she was drinking at a party, your publication of that fact is less a violation of privacy than if everyone is wondering why. And if the rumor is that she’s pregnant and you have confirmation that she’s undergoing tests for lymphoma, the opportunity to correct misinformation might be a consideration. Still, you might decide that a teen-ager’s health is a private matter, regardless of school activities or rumors. Coverage of immigrants Immigration is an important public issue that newspapers need to examine. Because the issue evokes strong emotions and opinions, journalists need to be use care in deciding whether and how to identify immigrants in stories and photographs. If your reporters or photographers are going to be writing stories or shooting pictures of immigrants who are in the United States illegally, you should discuss in advance whether to grant confidentiality to immigrants and what the terms of confidentiality should be. Newspapers are not law enforcement agencies. You should not identify illegal immigrants simply because they are breaking the law. Does your newspaper withhold names to protect the identities of people who help you write about violations of the law when you cover other crimes and/or social issues? If so, consider whether any circumstances of the story justify different treatment of your sources in an immigration story. However, you also should consider, and discuss with your editors, whether writing about illegal immigration and withholding identities would open you to a federal subpoena. Given the courts’ handling of the Valerie Plame case and the lack of a federal shield law, reporters have to tread carefully and consult in advance with editors, before granting confidentiality in any cases involving federal jurisdiction. Language differences complicate the decision in immigration stories. Especially if you are not fluent in the immigrant’s language, you should be careful even if a source agrees to talk for the record. Make sure that your interpreter is competent and explains clearly to the source that her name will be published in a newspaper which authorities might read. Be sure as well that your source understands your questions and that you understand the translation. If an answer seems puzzling, repeat the question and explain it to the interpreter, so that you know you are reporting the answer accurately. Use a professional interpreter whenever possible. Asking bilingual children to interpret for their parents, for instance, is especially risky. Children can’t take phone messages correctly in one language. Also be careful using one worker in a group who speaks in broken English. You might be able to conduct a fair interview with that person, but don’t rely on him to interpret for friends. Coverage of suicide Suicide presents difficult choices to newspapers. We cannot pretend to have an industry standard here. Some newspapers always report the cause of death in obituaries and make no exception for suicides. Some newspapers do not report suicides unless they involve someone prominent or unless they occur in public. We should recognize that we will never have consistent coverage of suicide. Most suicides occur in private and families will ask police, funeral directors and other sources newspapers rely on to keep a suicide private. The best a newspaper can claim is that you cover all suicides you learn about. Whatever your approach to covering suicides, be aware that some research has shown a phenomenon known as “suicide contagion,” where attention to one suicide is believed to contribute to other suicides in the same community. Suicides present valid reasons for newspapers to consider whether they should answer two of the basic questions we address in most news stories: Why and how. Suicide experts advise caution in reporting or speculating why a person killed himself or herself. Even if the person leaves a note, that may not be the full story. Immediate speculation about difficulties in the person’s life seldom tells the full picture, the experts say. They also worry about suggestions in news stories that a person killed himself because he was depressed or had been fired or was in marital or financial difficulty. This can imply to readers who are depressed or facing these situations that they are valid causes for suicide, the experts say. If you must address these issues, present them as facts, not as reasons for the suicide, which you can’t really know anyway. Experts also caution against reporting how people kill themselves, especially in detail, because they say that can be suggestive to troubled people as well. If you have a strong reason to examine the apparent factors in a suicide, be sure to interview some counselors and give them a chance to say that those are not reasons to kill yourself. Even if these factors are not part of the story, consider whether you should interview counselors and publish information about getting help, such as hotline numbers, counselors and services that might help people with similar problems, such as debt counselors and mental health services. The Centers for Disease Control and several organizations involved in suicide research and prevention have developed recommendations for the news media in covering suicide. In some cases and on some stories, the recommendations go further in the direction of restraint than some journalists will feel comfortable. But their cautions merit consideration and discussion when dealing with suicide stories. Among the reminders for journalists in the recommendations:
Coverage of abuse Writing about victims of domestic or sexual abuse presents decisions that require sensitivity and that change with each case. Newspapers used to have pretty firm rules against identifying victims of sexual assaults because the crime carries a stigma that harms the victims. Some victims today argue that the secrecy conferred by the news media actually feeds that stigma. The best approach often is to present the arguments for openness to victims and respect the victims’ wishes. Given the damage that fabrication already has done to the media, you should avoid using fictional names when writing about victims of sexual abuse. If you agree not to use a victim’s name, provide enough information about him and his life to make him appear authentic to the reader without identifying him. For instance, you might describe a victim as “a stockbroker in his 40s who was an altar boy at St. Peter’s Parish.” Sometimes you can persuade a victim to be identified by first name, middle name, maiden name or perhaps a childhood nickname (acknowledge in the story how you are identifying the victim). It’s not uncommon for victims of childhood sexual abuse to change their names in adulthood, so you might ask whether you can identify by the birth name. You can report in the story that the person is known by a different name now but not use the name. Domestic abuse presents other considerations. In addition to concern about the privacy of the victim, you need to weigh valid concerns about her safety. Domestic and sexual abuse also present reporting challenges as you try to determine what happened. In any story, human memory is a source of varying reliability. Memories of traumatic events can be especially selective. Some memories will be vague or repressed entirely as a means of self-protection. Some will be exaggerated by terror or anger. Some memories will be clouded by tears or adrenaline. When reporting on abuse, you should avoid a detailed focus on the actual incident of abuse unless you have strong reasons to do so and strong confidence in your account. Even if the actual incidents of violence occurred in private, seek interviews and documentation that will support or refute the victims’ accounts about surrounding circumstances. When you publish stories about domestic or sexual abuse, consider publishing phone numbers and web addresses of services that help such victims. Covering grief One of a reporter’s toughest tasks is intruding on people’s privacy at the time of stress. You may presume that the parent of a child who has died, for instance, wouldn’t want to talk to you. You feel like a vulture for even asking. As awkward as it is to ask, though, you need to respect that the decision on whether to do an interview is the parent’s, not yours. Never say no for someone else. Apologize for the intrusion and ask respectfully if you can tell their story. Some parents may embrace the chance to tell the world about this child who is so special to them. Others may find talking too difficult at that moment. Ask who else might be able to talk. Sometimes a sibling or an aunt will be able to handle the interview. Tom Suk, retired police reporter for the Des Moines Register, gives this advice: “It’s always better to ask and have them tell you to go to hell than not ask and have them call the next day and say, ‘how could you write that about my son/daughter/friend without talking to me first?’” Other helpful resources
|