The journalists who won University awards for tackling ethical issues during their reporting said being clear to readers about reporting methods and extensive discussions are needed in all journalistic moral dilemmas.
The Spokesman-Review newspaper and New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald received the Payne Award for ethics in journalism Thursday afternoon for reporting stories that involved numerous ethical choices.
About 50 people attended the ceremony in the Knight Library Browsing Room.
The Spokesman-Review received the News Organization Award for its investigation on former Spokane Mayor Jim West. Publishing more than 150 stories, The Spokesman-
Review revealed that West had used his power and resources to lure teen-aged males into sexual conduct.
Eichenwald received the Individual Journalist Award for his series on child pornography with an emphasis on the story of Justin Berry, a young teen who was involved in pornography and drugs.
With Eichenwald’s assistance, Berry eventually cleaned up and became a witness for federal prosecutors, helping them shut down other child porn Web sites.
Media critics and journalists criticized both series for the nontraditional methods they employed.
Payne award judges cited the journalists’ sensitivity to the stories’ issues and the transparency of their decision-making processes.
The Spokesman-Review hired a forensics computer expert to pose as a young male to verify that Jim West, a staunch Republican who had endorsed previous legislation that would limit gay rights, was indeed soliciting sex on Gay.com in exchange for gifts and jobs.
After the series’ seven-month period, Spokane citizens voted to recall West. Sixty-five percent of voters elected to kick him out of office.
The ethical situations facing the Times and The Spokesman-Review prove that the media need to focus on their methods, said Steve Smith, executive editor of The Spokesman-Review.
“If you’re going to have a conversation about ethics, that suggests that there are multiple answers to any ethical dilemma,” Smith said. “We recognize in presenting this award, the judges did not necessarily endorse the decisions we made but the process that we undertook.”
Spokesman-Review reporters Bill Morlin and Karen Dorn Steele, who wrote several of the stories about West, were with Smith to accept the award.
“It sort of closed the circle on a lot of ethical discussion that’s occurred,” Morlin said. “It showed that a highly respected panel of judges had taken a close look at our ethics. It really is a validation of the processes we used.”
“There’s a gray area of ethics where, especially in the new world of the Internet, all these questions of sexual predation and secrecy … are all issues, and this is evolving for journalists,” Dorn Steele said.
She said it was validating to see the judges recognizing the struggle her paper went through when deciding on the story’s many ethical decisions.
Eichenwald also faced ethical challenges. When he found Berry, he did not immediately tell him he was a journalist.
After it became apparent that Berry was being physically and emotionally harmed by online predators and his own drug addiction, Eichenwald took an active role in the story and helped Berry change his ways.
For Eichenwald, the decision to become an active part of the story was something very new.
“This story was very, very hard,” he said. “I have been doing this at the Times for 20 years; I have never experienced a circumstance like this.”
He acknowledged he had received criticism for becoming too involved with his source and subsequently becoming less objective, but Eichenwald stressed ethics are not set in stone and should be guidelines, not rules.
“If we simply fall back on a belief that we’ve answered all these questions before, … then journalism is going to be a very, very poor mechanism for revealing the realities of some of the very, very serious crimes that our nation is facing,” he said.
Judges also awarded a special citation to The Times-Republican of Hayes Center, Neb. for taking a strong editorial stance on a local bond measure in the face of legal criticism and a loss of advertising.
The decision nearly put the paper out of business.
Unlike past years, no Payne Award was given to a collegiate publication or journalist. School of Journalism and Communication Dean Tim Gleason said this was because of a lack of nominations, not a lack of talent.
The Payne Awards were established in 1999, honoring Ancil Payne, a legend in Seattle broadcasting. Former CEO of KING Broadcasting, Payne died in October 2004.
“In establishing the Payne awards, Ancil noted, ‘I am convinced that the demand to provide greater accuracy, clarity and ethical standards in the world of journalism supports the welfare of our democracy. We have to help journalists to recognize it before they can practice it,’” Gleason said during the ceremony.
Valerie Payne, Ancil’s widow, said her husband was a very intriguing person.
“He had a marvelous sense of humor, but he felt very strongly about the ethics of journalism and was very pleased when all this came about,” she said.
Anne Payne-Barker, Ancil’s daughter, said her father highly valued education.
“When he was at a certain point in his life where he could give back, he did in an enormous amount in terms of funding,” she said.
Mary-Cate Mackey, an adjunct magazine instructor, said Eichenwald momentarily turned her office into a “tiny newsroom” because he was actively covering Thursday’s guilty verdicts in the trial of two Enron officials.
That set a fantastic example for students, Mackey said.
“That’s really an important thing to be able to see it just like that,” she said. “To be able to bring the Payne Award winners here and have them go to the classes … is totally inspiring.”