Using the Scale

When confronted with an ethical dilemma, journalists will often draw on their years of experience and ask the question, “What do we normally do?” Although a good starting point, relying solely on that question has its drawbacks. For starters, every news story is unique and carries circumstances that can tip the balance scale in an unexpected direction. Perhaps a better starting point would be this trio of questions:

• What do I know?
• What don’t I know?
• What do I need to know before I can make a decision?

For our scale analogy to work, picture yourself as a reporter working for a major metropolitan daily newspaper in New England. You receive a tip that a man from a town within your circulation area had sexual relations with a 12-year-old girl. (The girl is not a family member, so we are not talking about incest.) Being the diligent reporter, you check out the tip, talking to law enforcement authorities. They tell you that, yes, they have investigated this situation, but no legal charges were filed—nor will any be filed.

Based solely on that amount of information, would you publish a story?

If we follow the dictum of “What do we normally do?” the answer would have to be no.

Normally, when journalists investigate a tip and learn that no charges have been filed, they don’t write a story. For one thing, absent formal charges, journalists lack any of the supporting documents that provide legal privilege to help support the story.

But there’s more to this case than initially meets the eye:

• These “sexual relations” were not an isolated incident, but part of pattern that encompassed an 18-month affair with the family babysitter.
• The “man” happens to be running for a seat in the U.S. Senate against two other candidates.
• The man is campaigning on a platform of family values.
• The election is about a week away.
• Members of both political parties in the state where the incident occurred tell you—on the record—the claims are true.
• You learn the only reason charges were not filed is because the family wanted to spare the girl, who’d undergone counseling, the ordeal of a trial.
• Had charges been filed, they would have included statutory rape, a felony.

Sounds like we’ve identified some significant factors that would tip the scale in favor of publish. But hold the phone; you need to know a few more things about the case:

• The relationship between the candidate and the young girl happened several years ago and in another state.
• At the time of the encounter, the man was not an elected official, nor seeking office.
• When you confront the candidate, he denies the allegations and claims the girl was “crazy” and “in a mental institution” when she originally accused him.
• The campaign staff of one of the man’s opponents appears to be behind the original tip.
• Publishing the babysitter sex story, especially so close to the election, could distract voters from some of the important issues facing the state.
• Publication of the story could also force the young girl to revisit this painful period in her life.

Are those factors enough to tip the scale to don’t publish?

Do some of those factors have a greater weight than others? What about the stakeholders—not just the girl and the candidates, but the voters? And what about the journalist’s moral obligations?

Our case study grew out of the 1996 Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Maine. The man accused of sexual relations with the young girl was W. John Hathaway, a wealthy businessman who’d recently moved to Maine from Alabama. The candidate accused of planting the story was Robert Monks. The third Republican candidate, who stayed out of the mudslinging, was Susan Collins. Collins went on to win the Republican primary and the general election and remains a U.S. senator to this day. 

The news organization facing the ethical dilemma was The Boston Globe, then a major player in the coverage of politics throughout New England. Upon receiving the tip about Hathaway, the Globe sent a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter to Alabama to investigate the claims. Convinced they were true, and believing publication would serve the public interest by providing information Maine voters needed to know, the newspaper printed the story.

But, as you know, this case study is not an isolated incident. Politicians accused of being involved in sex scandals have become more frequent in the age of the internet. As you can see from the other examples below, following the story to the end before deciding whether or not to publish is very important (source credit: NBC and The Washington Post).

Table 3.1. Example 1

Truth Meter	Details
True	Politician: Dennis Hastert Synopsis: 2015 — Allegations of payoffs are what first brought this scandal to the public’s attention. Investigation: As the situation played out over months of investigation, it was revealed that the payoffs were to silence a boy on a team Hastert had coached decades earlier. A second person came forward as well to say Hastert had allegedly abuse her brother. Resolution: He pled guilty to paying the hush money but not the alleged sexual abuse. Outcome: Finally, at his sentencing, Hastert admitted to abusing the players on his teams, paying them to keep them quiet and was sentenced to 15 months in prison for the hush money payments. This sentence did not include penalties for the sexual abuse itself because the statute of limitations had run out
Uncertain	Politician: Ted Cruz Synopsis: 2016 — Cruz is currently facing accusations that he has had at least five extramarital affairs. Investigation: Cruz has denied the allegations and accused Donald Trump of planting the story which was published in The National Enquirer. The story is still ongoing and two of the women he allegedly had an affair with have been identified. Both have denied the accusations. It is also part of the investigation to question The Enquirer’s ethics and credibility. Resolution: There has been no resolution yet. It is still unclear is any or all of the allegations are true. Outcome: This case is a perfect one for us to consider for this course because we don’t have the benefit of hindsight. As of now, we do not know if Cruz had any affairs. So ask yourself—what would you do if you were a reporter, editor or news director?