Here is a story where ethics in media as well as the play of social media in reporting take a turn for the worst.
Two Philadelphia journalist, Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News and Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer, had words for each other first through Twitter and then in person.
McLane tweeted that Vick was expected to start on Sunday even after his recent injury to his hand. Bowen tweeted just moments later that no one knew if Vick would start.
McLane took this as a personal shot and tweeted in response, "“How about if Vick starts Sunday you have to say on [cable show] Daily News Live, ‘I’m an old hack that hasn’t broken a story in years, needs my editor to keep my blog fresh, and missed Vick on Monday because I was cluelessly tapping away on my computer and had to steal quotes from hard-working reporters who have a clue,’” McLane wrote directly to Bowen.
The next day in the locker room Bowen punched McLane in the head before they were broken up.
This story has a lot of ethical dilemmas inside of it. One more obvious is the professionalism of journalist. Going into a locker room where you are expected by the team you are covering to act in a civil manner and start a fight isn't apart of that professionalism.
Both men were out of line in my opinion.
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While both guys were wrong, McLane was waywayway wrong. Bowen didn't specifically attack him, and I think McLane's reaction was uncalled for. He legitimately attacked the guy! "I'm an old hack"? The cyber bullying is a little much. Not something you should expect from grown men.
ReplyDeleteWow. No one faults a reporter for harboring bad feelings toward your competition - that's part of the game, in many ways. Yet when you feel the urge to go public with that, you have to have the sense to ask yourself, how will this post benefit readers? It doesn't. So you don't post it.
ReplyDelete