Your ethical dilemma du jour, take three

[sigma7]

Via Romenesko (spell-check suggests "Irksomeness" for "Romenesko"): Columbus Dispatch reporter Amy Saunders got on the last Skybus flight out of Port Columbus on April 4; she was the only passenger who knew the round-trip tickets would actually be one-way. The Dispatch agreed to an embargo, so "Saunders was told to keep quiet about the looming airline shutdown," writes editor Benjamin J. Marrison. "The nature of what we do sometimes means that we have information that we can't report until a certain time." || A reader protests: "You let us down by not informing us of what you knew."

And is the newspaper's mission to serve (a) itself, (b) the public interest, (c) the interest of those it reports on or (d) some impossibly vague synthesis? Me, I say (b), and I say they copped out and deserve a smack on the nose, at the very bleedin' least. (At least try to stay away from the appearance of impropriety by staying off the damn plane. Bad cowtown, no cookie.)

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

It ebbs and flows. There used to be a time when our college paper could scoop the local press. I think those days are well and truly gone here. From what I've met of collegians in general and OSU folk specifically (and professional journalists, for that matter), I'm convinced your top-tier college papers are comparable to -- sometimes superior to -- "real-world" papers, especially those in their home town.

And I've got a t-shirt given to me by robing as a birthday present celebrating the proposed NHL franchise Columbus Mad Cows, as proposed by The Other Paper. That's my Columbian publication of choice.