PressEthic

According to a recent article by Micheal Calderone in The New York Observer titled, "Times Studies How to Shake Feds: Disposable Phones, Erasable Notes:'Act Like a Drug Dealer'," New York Times reporters and editors are officially addressing more ethical problems then libel law and accurate reporting.

In this years round of legal seminars, journalists and lawyers addressed practical, yet kind of drastic ways of protecting both the identities of confidential sources, and also themselves against the threat of legal action for protecting those sources.

According to the article:

The sessions, led by Times lawyers George Freeman and David McCraw, have traditionally offered a brush-up on privacy, sourcing and general newsgathering. But executive editor Bill Keller announced in a staff memo that the 2006 version would address “the persistent legal perils that confront us.”

The article also quotes Times standards editor Craig Whitney as saying, “The main worry these days is not libel, or proving that you actually quoted something accurately...It is being subpoenaed.”

The harsh reality is that investigative reporters need to keep their legal rights in mind at all times. While that might seem like a given for any responsible news gatherer, the recent news scandel involving Judy Miller and the so-called "Plamegate" has intensified the need for reporters to protect themselves.

Calderone also talked to David Barstow, a reporter for the Times who has been working with the papers lawyers on the legal sessions.

“With this crazy environment, with subpoenas and so on, there is this feeling that you have to act like a drug dealer or a Mafioso,” Mr. Barstow said. “We don’t have any reason to think right now that there aren’t going to be more of these cases. So we should take precautions. It’s just no longer an abstract threat.”

I don’t know about you, but I have hard enough time tracking down sources, getting my tape player to work, and thinking about story structure without having to worry about sneaky ways of burning my paper trail. Besides, isn’t it our notes that protect us when faced by fact checkers and copy editors? Since I’ve long been told to “show my work,” switching over to as such secretive practices (like as mentioned in the article, using disposable cell phones, regularly disposing of notes and restricting email contact) sounds both drastic and problematic. I'd rather be able to defend my reporting then to hide it and say it never happened.