Situation Two
You are the online editor for a local TV news station in a city with a large university. The college football team unexpectedly wins a game against its chief rival. The crowd spills out of the stadium and onto the street, just as night falls. Almost immediately, the scene turns violent, with fans overturning vehicles and fights erupting. A student you do not know calls the station to tell you she has a camera and is capturing video in the center of the storm, which she’ll sell to your station. What do you do?
Join Poynter ethicist Bob Steele in discussing the Poynter tips and how they were applied by commenting below.
1 comments:
In Situation 2, the editor who analyzes this case uses the term “freelancer” to describe the student with the camera that captures video. Is that really the case, or is the student just an “eyewitness” to the violence who records some of the incident? Does it make a difference? What different values might a “freelancer” and an “eyewitness” bring to recording video of this incident?
How does the principle of “independence” enter into this case? How would it relate to decisions about the video offered to the station? To reporting on a major local institution like the University?
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