The compromises reporters make

By adamg on Sun, 07/04/2010 - 9:53am

Samuel J. Scott reads up on the Gen. McChrystal saga and recalls a tough decision he had to make when he was editor of Spare Change News and a reporter got a scoop that could jeopardize a major source of the paper's everyday stories.

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Comments

An uncommon compromise

By Andy Metzger on Sun, 07/04/2010 - 1:53pm.

Adam,

I don't think this is a compromise that reporters or editors make, at least in my experience. The standard response would be to print the on-the-record story and print the threats about being blacklisted, assuming they were made on the record. And if they were off the record, find another way to tell it. The story was legitimate and of interest to Spare Change's readers, according to the EIC. I think the EIC's decision in this particular case was unusual, not really an example of "the compromises reporters make."

Andy

Re: An uncommon compromise

By Sam Scott on Sun, 07/04/2010 - 3:01pm.

Andy, thank you for your thoughts -- I completely understand from where you are coming.

But there is another issue at play. Spare Change had essentially been a lobbyist organization that had not operated as a professional newspaper until I had come on board. I could not fault a low-level assistant who answers the phones for not knowing the change and then speaking the truth when, perhaps, he should have not done so. So I thought that we needed to have a bit of compassion for an honest mistake.

Now, of course, it would have been different if we were the Globe and the assistant had said the same comment. Everyone knows the Globe.

Sam, Right. Yours was a

By Andy Metzger on Sun, 07/04/2010 - 6:27pm.

Sam,

Right. Yours was a unique situation, one I'm not familiar with - though I've been a periodic reader of Spare Change over the years. My main point is that the situation you described is not typical for other reporters or editors at other papers, not a common dilemma. As you have explained, there were special circumstances with Spare Change undergoing a transition from an advocacy organization to a newspaper with a more objective angle.