Electronic Journalism Gone too Far

I'll be the first to admit that the following individual was not trying to be a journalist, but I post this article to prove a point. David Kernell was charged with hacking Governor Sarah Palin's private email account. see http://tinyurl.com/hackingjournalist The 20 year old son of a democratic Tenessee state representative posted screen shots of her email on the internet.

After our discussion in class on Monday, I was thinking about the argument about presenting truth is journalism. This young man was doing just that. In some twisted way we can justify and condone his acts as those of an industrius journalist bent on ensuring that we know the kind of person Palin is. There is an obscene amount of information available to those who are desperate enough to get it. Where he crossed the line is he used deception to obtain it.

We need to know now as journalists, where will I say enough is enough and not cross the line. Yesterday at work in the classical 89 newsroom, my co-worker was doing a story on the elctronic voting machines that will be used for the first time in a general election here in Utah. The election official told him off the record that the county would be short on voting machines. It may not seem like a big deal, but really thats a big deal even in a state as lopsided as Utah. The reporter wanted to put that fact in his story, but be able to attribute it. He then called back and verified a few menial facts with the official and purposely burried the voting machine shortage fact in the list. The official said yes to all on the record. Now any way you paint it, he used deception. Should the official have been more attentive, yes. Is it the public's right to know that the state can't or won't provide the adequate amount of machines, yes. But where does the public's need to know cross the line of national security and privacy? In my opinion my co-worker did not cross the line, David Kernell did and he will pay.

This post is really to make you think. Where will I decide to just sit on information for the good of the public or an individual? When will I decide to omit information to respect another person, and sacrifice a scoop? You can print almost anythign you want, but should you?

That's why we have the Intelligence Identities Protection Act http://tinyurl.com/identityprotection. The public's opportunity to know does not mean it is ok for them to know. What say you?