Creative Editing
Chapter 7
Exercise 1
1. When the American Society of Newspaper Editors adopted its first code of ethics in the 1920s, William Allen White, editor of the Emporia (Kan.) Gazette, said the guidelines would not work. Read the following synopses of two real cases, then reread the ASNE Code of Ethics.
Case A
In 1981, Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke became known to all American journalists -- not because she had just won the Pulitzer Prize but because she had fabricated her prize-winning story, as well as much of her own background.
Early in April, the Pulitzer jury had awarded Cooke the prestigious prize for her feature story about "Jimmy," an 8-year-old boy who supposedly had been injected with heroin in Cooke's presence. Two days after Cooke received the award, the editors of The Washington Post returned it to Columbia University and the Pulitzer board.
What had happened? Only hours after the Pulitzer Prizes were awarded, Vassar College and the Associated Press called The Washington Post about some discrepancies in Cooke's biography. Her biography said that she had graduated magna cum laude from Vassar, studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and earned a master's degree from the University of Toledo. Vassar and the University of Toledo claimed that Cooke had attended Vassar for one year, graduated without honors from the University of Toledo and had no master's degree. Moreover, the editors of the Post confirmed that Cooke was not fluent in French.
Finally, the Post editors questioned Cooke about "Jimmy." Although she had written the story without using any last names, claiming they were confidential, and although editors allowed the story to be published, Cooke finally admitted that "Jimmy" did not truly exist. She said he was a composite of sources she had met while investigating heroin use in Washington, D.C. Cooke then resigned.
Case B
One day during the summer of 1980, a professional reporter attended an expenses-paid meeting sponsored by Westinghouse Electric Corp. In addition to food and transportation, Westinghouse provided guests with lodging and a $150 honorarium for listening to a speech advocating nuclear power.
The reporter accepted the food, the travel, the lodging and the honorarium and returned to write a story for his newspaper.
Does the ASNE Code of Ethics cover either or both of these cases? Explain your answer.
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