Ethics and information

What was that she said in lecture about information having a "shelf life"?

Jeff Fisher questions Ch. 5's ethics on 'exclusive' report | tennessean.com | The Tennessean

When I discuss ethics, I often try to frame it in terms of the forces that move us to make bad decisions. I'm going to come right out and say it: using file footage from an unrelated interview question in this way was a bad decision. What kinds of forces would have made the reporter and producer do this?

Octuplets and Big Dough

Did you see the interview with the octuplet mom on NBC's Today show? Did you ask yourself how NBC got the exclusive? I did.
But NBC isn't talking and the question doesn't seem to be getting much air or ink in the major media. It is, however, all the rage in the blogosphere. Check out this post, claiming the deal earned Nadya Suleman $300,000. Often, these kinds of arrangements are not direct payments but instead fees for using copyrighted family images, etc.
What do you think of that? Should a news organization pay for interviews? If so, why? If not, why not?

Interviews by e-mail

Here's a blog post by a Tribune reporter, taking another newspaper to task for declining to engage in an e-mail interview. He raises some interesting points, but I still have to say, e-mail interviews are an absolute last resort. I also wish someone would raise the issue that the subject in question is a public employee and refusing to answer questions as such should raise red flags for the citizens paying her salary. Also, his assumption that an e-mail from the president reflects her own words, rather than those of her PR staff, is naive. He should toddle through J202.
What do you think?

On and Off the Record

An Obama campaign supporter has stepped down after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster." Samantha Power also writes for TIME magazine.
She tried to take the comment off the record but the publication said it as clearly on. What do you think of the exchange? Should the comment have been used?
Should TIME respond? And if so, how?

Interview Links

You're about to begin doing interviews for your individual stories, and we'll discuss interviewing in lecture Monday. One great way to get comfortable interviewing is to watch other people do it. If you happen onto interviews online, post a link as a comment.
One of my favorites is the "Questions For" feature in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. But please note the line at the bottom regarding editing. We'll discuss the ethics of interviewing Monday.