Journalism Ethics Scenarios

You just finished an interview with a new source and then received an email saying that the source has tried to add you as a friend on Facebook. You:

A city councilman provides a tip off the record that the city manager is going to resign. We have total faith in the accuracy of this tip but have agreed not to publish the story unless we can get it confirmed by somebody else. We can’t but are worried that the competition also has the story. What should we do?

While trying to transcribe the audio from an interview with a source, you accidentally erase your recording. You call your source to schedule another interview, but she says that she won’t have time before your deadline and that you should, “Just use quotes from your memory.” You indeed have a good memory of the interview, so you:

You need a photograph of a senior you are profiling in the newspaper, and you notice that he has his professionally shot senior photographs posted on his Facebook page, which is open to the public. You:

A source tells you that she has pertinent information about an ongoing scandal at your school, but she wants to go “off the record” before she tells you details. You:

You’ve been assigned to do a review on a local spa. Before you begin writing your review, the spa owner offers to give you every service offered for free, which includes a massage, facial, manicure and pedicure. What do you do?

During the parent band booster meeting at your house, you hear one of the parents talk about school issues. Immediately, you grab your voice recorder and slyly place it under the couch. After everyone leaves, you replay the tape. You have a treasure trove of information — including allegations the soccer coach regularly curses out players. What do you do with this information? *In Indiana, it is legal to audio record someone as long as one member of the party is aware. How does this impact your answer?