Comments on Mr. Kristof’s three Hypothetical cases

Mr. Kristof provided three hypothetical cases to exercise journalist’s ethical judgement. Our professors and classmates made many good points in discussing the cases. I agree with classmate Bill Hall’s comment (“Walking through the minefield”) on the Ramsey case. Here I want to add some points for another two cases.

For the basketball coach case, it is very important to get the story right and treat all the people related in this case fairly. Before the story runs, reporters should do a thorough investigation and get detailed stories from all participants, including co-workers from previous schools and the girls who accused the coach of misconduct. At the same time, the reporters should also give the couch an opportunity to defend himself and provide his side of the story. If the reporters try their best to give a balanced and fair account, they should not feel particularly responsible for anything the coach might do to himself.

As for the three foreigners’ case, the best approach is reporting the whole story and putting it in a big context. If I covered this story, I would mention that the suspects were three foreigners and identify their nationality. However, I would also try to interview some people who came from the same country as the three men did and ask their comments on the story. I remember when the Virginia Tech shooting happened, initially, the shooter was just identified as an Asian male, and his name and nationality were not revealed. At that time, all the Asian communities were nervous and hoped that he was not from their community. When the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, was later identified as an immigrant from South Korea, the Korean community in the United States, and even people in South Korea, felt quite ashamed for what Cho had done. Many Korean-Americans were also quite concerned that this event would affect their image in main stream society. I believe that the best way to cover a story related to race, ethnicity and nationality, is to report the whole story. If the subject's background is an issue, the story should include responses from others who share the same background. When reporting in this way, the media not only provide a multi-angled story, but also avoid creating tension, or a backlash toward a certain group of people.

Annie Liu