Reporting Words: Final Story

 Powell, Austin

            Poor Bevo Smith.  If only he knew the missteps and ethical errors he was doing.  What we have is an individual who throws any notion of respectable, credible journalism out of the window.

            He starts off preparing the story on a wrong note when he decides to turn to his former brother-in-law as a firsthand source for information.  Already this is a conflict of interest regardless if he doesn’t like him.  A journalist should never interview family members and former family members because the story will have zero credibility as a result, regardless if the journalist feels that they have no connection with said member.  In this situation Bevo should have searched for other sources such as another city council member or looked for another source that might have similar information as his former brother-in-law.

            Another problem with this story is the use of secondary sources.  A reporter should never base information on a secondary source because often the information is either false or has been changed over the course of time as it as passed through the grapevine.  In this case it’s especially disastrous because Gus is giving Bevo a secondary source but also suggesting he should make up a name and quote, so thus creating a source that doesn’t exist.  This problem could have been fixed had Bevo filed an open records request to look at the university and city council’s account information, or go directly to another source who might have information on the story.

            Recycled quotes also pose a problem to Bevo’s story.  While yes it is okay to reuse a quote that a source gave to another publication, Bevo needs to attribute the publication where he took the quote from so that he give attribution but also protects himself in case the quote proves to be false.

            Another pitfall Bevo faces is sacrificing accurate information for being the first to report the news.  In this situation, rather than verifying if the president did in fact resign he retweets what the Town Crier tweeted.  He should have first checked with the university to see if the president was going to officially resign instead of basing it as a fact from what the Town Crier posted.

            One of the biggest problems posed to Bevo when writing this story is when the president of the university offers him $10,000 to walk away from the story.  I’ve never understood why people would even entertain the idea of taking a bribe, but this is even truer for journalists.  Taking bribes are morally wrong, and as a journalist can compromise the story you’re working on and more importantly your career.

            Given that this meeting is open to the public, Bevo is therefore entitled to attend the meeting as a reporter and ask questions.  He should have known this and asserted his right.  Texas Government Code 551 (Texas Open Meetings Act) says that unless it’s a meeting closed off to the public then everybody has the right to sit in and attend government meetings.  He should notify his editor and see what kind of legal action can be taken to address his denial to the meeting.

            Since he is denied access to the meeting he decides to take the shortcut by copying and pasting information from the meeting synopsis directly into his story.  If this is not plagiarism I don’t know what is.  He would have been better served to go and speak to a councilman or citizen who attended the meeting.  Also, sometimes these meetings are recorded and placed online so he could have used the recording for reference when writing this story.

            And finally he makes the fatal error of deciding to ask three random guys that live on his hall to give him quotes on the issue.  This is a problem because these guys may have no idea about the story and could also be friends of Bevo.  He only exacerbates this problem by deciding to make up a quote from his former brother-in-law so that it “enhances the story.”  Both of these instances are obvious no-no’s in the world of journalism.  Bevo would have been better off interviewing citizens and council members who are informed on the issue and can offer an informed response.