Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw to see an imaginative piece of reporting by Washington Post Magazine writer Gene Weingarten.
Gene --who once worked in Albany -- noticed all the street performers he encountered walking through the Metro system walkways of Washington DC. That OBSERVATION run through his imagination came out as this question: what if the street performer were really really good -- would busy subway riders realize it?
Then he persuaded Joshua Bell, a world-class violinist whom classicial music and opera lovers around the world gladly pay $100 a ticket or more to hear, to help in his experiment.
Good story, good journalism and the only tricky part was the connection with and ability to talk the virtuoso into playing in a subway.
Comments?
5 comments:
I don't think it is un-ethical at all for a journalist to vote. It is every U.S. citizens right to vote, and I don't feel that journalists should be an exception. As long as they do not carry their opinion into their news writing I do not see how it oculd be un-ethical for journalists to vote.
Rex Smith, editor of the Albany Times-Union, recently tried to show readers how it was un-ethical for journalists to vote. Read this to see if he persuades you at all:
Rex Smith: Drawing a blank in the primaries
February 2, 2008 at 6:00 am by Rex Smith, Editor
Here we are, days away from the big presidential preference voting in New York and 23 other states, in one of the most interesting campaign seasons in a generation, which should be great for a political junkie like me. But I’m not feeling Super Duper, in fact, because I don’t get to vote on Tuesday.
In this state, only people who are enrolled in a political party can vote in a primary. I’m registered as an independent, or what political workers call “a blank,'’ a sort of voluntary disenfranchisement at primary time that is a price I have chosen to pay for being a journalist.
Not every journalist, and not even everybody in the Times Union newsroom, takes this stance. Some sign up to be a Republican or a Democrat or a member of a smaller party. That’s a personal choice. But we draw the line there.
No journalist who wants to be seen as a fair reporter on public affairs ought to be involved in partisanship. That was made clear when I came to work at this paper a dozen years ago, when I was handed a memo that directed me to avoid “any activity'’ that might compromise the paper’s ability to cover the news “faithfully, factually, impartially and fairly.'’ The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists says we should ‘’shun … political involvement'’ and participation in community groups “if they compromise journalistic integrity.'’
It’s in this season that a journalist’s right to participate in the democratic process comes smack up against the ethical imperative to, in the words of the SPJ code, “remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.'’
More Americans should get directly involved in partisan activity. But not more American journalists. Our job is to report the news, not help to make it by advancing the cause of any candidate or party.
Some journalists go even further. Len Downie, executive editor of The Washington Post, doesn’t ever vote. He worries his impartiality could be affected if he is weighing which candidate he might prefer. Most of us in newspapering consider that a bit extreme. A good journalist routinely sets aside personal preferences in the interest of fair reporting. It’s the appearance of unfairness that’s a concern here.
There’s a particularly ticklish situation in states where delegates are selected by open caucuses rather than secret ballots. There, you literally must stand and be counted on behalf of your preferred candidate.
In Colorado, a caucus state, Denver Post editor Greg Moore responded to this by issuing a memo to his staff making it clear that while he’d rather they avoid the caucuses altogether, those who wish to attend should “conduct yourselves well'’ by “a simple raising of the hand.'’ (No cheering, “Mac attack!'’ or “Hil-la-ry!,'’ it seems.) But Moore barred anybody on his staff who might influence political coverage from participating in the caucuses at all.
“I believe we all understand,'’ he wrote, “that working for a newspaper requires sacrifices many others in the work world don’t have to make.'’
http://www.time-blog.com/tuned_in/2008/02/do_you_want_to_know_who_report.htm
My second attempt at posting this URL for you -- Read this lively opinion piece by a Time magazine columnist who feels very differently than Rex Smith.
I also do not think that it is unethical for a journalist to vote in an election. Although it is the role of a journalist to remain unbiased, as long as the journalist's opinion is not visible in his reporting, what he chooses to do in his private life shall remain private. As a citizen, journalists have a right to vote, and they should understand that they, too, have the right to do so.
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