Legal/Ethical cases

1. As a reporter, you are all set to go on air with a breaking news story. It seems Gov. Walz is being accused of smuggling drugs from Canada into Minnesota, thus violating federal law. You are going to be interviewing a leading Republican State Senator. Before you go on air, he says to you that Walz is corrupt, a fink, a fraud, a hypocrite, incompetent, a liar, a moral degenerate, a pervert, a pocketer of public funds, a scoundrel, unethical and a villain. Do you put this Senator on the air live knowing that he might repeat these claims on air? Why/why not?

2. You are a reporter for a local TV station. You pick up on a breaking story. President Biden has just been arrested for rape. National codes of ethics for radio and television stations state that the name of a rape victim should be withheld. Your station also follows this policy. As you are ready to go on air, your editor barges into your office and says "change the story! Biden is accused of raping Kamala Harris!" Will you change the story to include the name of the supposed rape victim? Why/why not?

3. Sociological studies have shown that there is a link between serial killers and their need for recognition. What this means is that serial killers often crave media attention. They want to see reports about what they've done, and especially after they've been arrested they want their names and faces to be featured prominently in stories. They also want to be interviewed by leading journalists. Given this however, there isn't any strong data that indicates that if they don't get this recognition that they won't commit the killings. Your station has just been offered an exclusive interview with a serial killer who is being charged in the murders of 47 Minnesota school age children. The editor wants you to do the interview. How do you respond?