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Boucher

Rosemary Boucher

Professor Pantalone

Journalism 410

February 28th, 2019

Case Study Exercise 4

The most important consideration for a journalist when composing a story are the nine

principles of journalism. Journalists are often faced with dilemmas, and without good ethical

reasoning and an understanding of the nine principles of journalism, they can make poor

decisions. One such example is the story of Arthur Ashe and his diagnosis of AIDS. A reporter

from USA Today was friends with Ashe and learned of his diagnosis before it had gone public.

The reporter felt the need to write the story and ended up doing so despite Ashe’s desire for it to

stay private and maintain his reputation. While the reporter did stay true to many of the nine

principles of journalism, he did not stay true to good ethical reasoning.

When the reporter learned of Ashe’s diagnosis, he did have an obligation to the truth and

loyalty to the citizens to consider. Ashe’s position as a public figure does make any health issues

he has news, but the fact he received AIDS through blood transfusion is much more important.

This was a case of negligence, and it could easily happen to someone else as well. The reporter’s

loyalty to citizens means that he must inform them if they are in danger. This is also an instance

where the reporter has a responsibility to create a forum for criticism and compromise. What

happened to Ashe was dangerous, and the medical facility that treated him should come under

criticism for their mistake. The reporter did follow these principles by reporting Ashe’s

diagnosis, but he also showed a lack of ethical reasoning.

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Every journalist will tell you that they first and foremost have an obligation to the truth.

Obligation to citizens comes as a close second. What this reporter showed by writing the story

despite Ashe’s objections is a violation of his privacy. Ashe had a right to his own privacy, and

when the reporter found out about his diagnosis, it was as his friend, not as a reporter. While a

journalists obligation to the truth comes first, it’s important that their obligation to their citizens

by respecting their privacy is a close second. This information should have been treated as off the

record, because the nature of their friendship meant that the reporter was privy to the more

private parts of Ashe’s life. However, this information could have been used as tip for further

investigation, because Ashe’s story was a story that needed to be told.

The reporter also failed to maintain independence from the people he covered by writing

a story about his friend. This story should have been written by someone else using an

anonymous tip from the reporter. In the end sacrificed both the principle of maintaining

independence from the people he covers and his trustworthiness as a person. Without this trust,

he lost his obligation to himself and to citizens by showing them that he does not value their

privacy. He made private information public against the will of someone he was friends with. He

may have been doing what he thought was right, but in the end he hurt the people around him

more. While there were principles he did follow that proved that this story needed to be told, his

lack of good ethical reasoning showed that he made a poor decision in how it was told.