The relationship between journalists and their sources

One of the frequent questions I encounter is whether I miss reporting momentous events and whether ombudsmanship can be a substitute for the excitement of being a live wire reporter. The joy of reporting developing news and an attempt to understand the implications can never be substituted by any other activity. It keeps you on your toes and there is a particular flow of adrenalin that energises a reporter in an inexplicable manner. I do miss these defining aspects of journalism. But, ombudsmanship has its own resilience. It keeps you on a narrow and straight path to constantly reflect about the profession. It is a privilege to be a custodian of values and one has to give up some of the other benefits of the profession to do this job well.

Ethics in reporting

The intrinsic values in journalism are universal and they have survived the disruptions brought about by technology. My constant interactions with young journalists and journalism students vindicate that these values are not only central to the new generation but they try to apply them in multiple platforms on which they share their stories. Richard Wald, Fred W. Friendly Professor of Professional Practice in Media and Society, at Columbia Journalism School, invited me to sit through his class on ethics recently. One of the cases that was taken up for close scrutiny was a story that tried to understand the efficacy of the 2001 law in the United States, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. The act gave children from underprivileged backgrounds the choice to seek transfers from failing schools to better ones.

A detailed case study of the report, produced by the Knight Case Studies Initiative, was shared with the students. The Chicago Tribune ’s education reporter, Stephanie Banchero, wanted to track one transfer student for an entire year. The subject of Banchero’s study was a third-grader, Rayola Carwell, daughter of Yolanda Carwell, an African-American unmarried mother of three. But, the story did not play out as the journalist imagined. It took its own turn as new facts emerged. It moved from being a series on policy consequences of NCLB to that of an earnest child eager to learn but thwarted by her mother’s own struggles. The story was about the mother as much as the child, and the editors at the Tribune told Ms. Banchero that the story was how the family environment mattered in a child’s pursuit of education and not whether NCLB worked or not.

Some of the questions that were looked at were: how to convey to the mother that she has become a central character in the story; will the revelation change the equation between the reporter and the subject? Does this mean the meticulous work to win the trust of the subject, in this case the family, “that had grown comfortable and unguarded in the presence of a reporter amid them”, was a trick?

Ms. Banchero wanted to show that the law worked for a good student. “I didn’t want to set too many parameters, but I didn’t want to pick a family where the kid has special education needs. That wouldn’t have been [a] fair way to (do it). So we tried to look for an average to good student where if she could just get into a good school, it would work.” Rayola Carwell fitted the bill very well.

But, many questions started appearing as Ms. Banchero went about observing her subject. The records revealed that though the child had earned straight ‘A’s, she had failed her third grade mostly due to absenteeism. Why had she missed so much school? Ms. Banchero had taken formal permission both from the principal of the school and from Yolanda Carwell to cover her story. The child’s record in the new school was no better. Her absences were on the rise, and the reporter’s original thesis came apart. It had nothing to do with the affirmative legislation. If the story had to progress, then the mother’s tale had to be explored. Is it imperative to explain the process to the subject? Would she forbid the reporter to report further? Did that matter? To what extent did the reporter still need the mother’s cooperation? Though as a reporter, Ms. Banchero realised that her job is to go for truth and not to worry about people’s feelings, as an individual who had spent more than six months with the family the decision was hurting. Is it possible to be a professional and not be cruel at the same time?

Indian examples

There are no clear answers to the question: What do you owe those you deal with? I am not sure if this is a case specific to the education sector and to the United States alone. There were similar instances I had to encounter while covering farmers’ suicides in Andhra Pradesh. I know of some of my colleagues who wanted to explain the efficacy of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme having faced similar dilemmas. I would like to invite readers to come up with some specific Indian examples that could be explored in these columns.

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