“King County prosecutors and sheriff’s detectives asked the editors at the Eastside Journal, now called the King County Journal, to run a fake story about a staged arson to make Sherer believe an accomplice had carried out his plans. The newspaper complied.” —Ethics of Paper’s Fake Arson Story Debated Seattle Times)
Woah! When does the paper’s responsibility to the community include publishing a lie? This is troubling. But this isn’t a story about simply trying to catch an arsonist. The suspect was planning multiple murders, and wanted to test whether he could trust an accomplice before hiring him for additional murders.
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I do remember you, Anne. I hope things are going well for you at Penn State.
I wonder if the police might have paid for a special edition of the paper — just one fake page, that they could slip into anotherwise accurate edition, and give it only to this one suspect, or in the prison library, or whatever. But that’s still cooperating with a manipulation of the press — any time the authorities tell you what to print, and you agree, that jeopardizes the free press.
Thanks for the comment.
Hey Dr. Jerz
You might not remember me but I had one of your classes last year (my sophomore year). I was googling this story because I am doing a report on it in one of my journalism ethics classes here at Penn State. Your blog remark came up near the top and I recognized your name! This is quite an interesting ethical dilemma for journalists. I can see it from both sides as I am required to research and fight for both sides of the story, but I think it the paper should definitely not have published this fake story. I agree with the comment that a paper’s responsibility should not include publishing a lie. Since when do journalists work with/do favors for crimminals doing jail time? The job of a journalist is to report the truth. It is also important to think of the alternatives besides publishing a fake story that could help with this case. Plus, that is mainly the police’s job. However, the community surprisingly was supportive of this story- after knowing its purpose- but it was fellow journalists who expressed the most problems with it (obviously.)
Anne