The Rolling Stone article that led to U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal being forced out as the top military commander in Afghanistan opens a Pandora's box of ethics questions for journalists:
Should a reporter automatically publish an embarrassing statement made by a source in an interview? Or should a reporter ever let such statements slide, particularly if he risks losing access to the source by printing the gaffe?
And what exactly is the fine line between so-called "gotcha journalism" and legitimate reporting of gaffes and misstatements by people in the media spotlight?
In the article by Michael Hastings, McChrystal and his staff mock civilian government officials, including Vice President Joe Biden and National Security Adviser Jim Jones, and claim that President Obama came to a meeting on Afghanistan war strategy last year unprepared.
Hastings said one of McChrystal's aides had pressured him to not publish some of the remarks made during his interviews with the general, but that he refused.
But Rolling Stone's executive editor said the magazine fact-checked the article with McChrystal before it was published, and that the general raised no objection to any of the quotes.
Stephen Ward has faced these kinds of questions before. A professor and ethics expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism school, he's also a former war correspondent who covered the Persian Gulf War and conflicts in Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Northern Ireland for the Canadian Press News Agency.
Ward says reporters are under no obligation to give sources a chance to retract rash statements made during on-the-record interviews.
"You're not there to coach the source into what to say, that's the role of his P.R. person," Ward says. "I don't like the idea of saying to a source, 'Hey, you said something really stupid, do you want to take it back?'"
But it's good journalistic practice, Ward adds, to ask the source to explain the statement.
"You might say, 'That's a very interesting thing you say about the president. Why do you say he's detached,' or something like that. Make sure they elaborate on what they've said."
'Gotcha' Journalism vs. Fair Reporting
Ward says "gotcha" journalism "is all about intent. If you're going into the interview only to catch someone saying something stupid then that's gotcha journalism. The question is, do you have a good justification for what you're reporting?"
Ward says any reporter who spends a long period of time with a source, as Hastings did with McChrystal, walks a fine line: On the one hand, the reporter wants the source to let his or her guard down. On the other, it's the reporter's job to always make it clear why he's there.
"I've been in war zones with soldiers, and as a reporter you have to keep telling people, 'Remember, I'm a journalist, this is an interview,'" Ward says.
"But it can get fuzzy," he adds. "If you go out on a patrol mission with some soldiers for a long time, then maybe have a beer together at the end of the day, it gets more relaxed. You have to keep a certain distance and make sure you're not getting too buddy-buddy with them, even if that means they will be more circumspect."
But is there a different standard in such matters for beat reporters as opposed to writers like Hastings, who was doing a one-time profile on McChrystal? Beat reporters, after all, need continuing access to certain sources in order to do their jobs; if they report a dumb remark made by a source they risk losing that access.
"In this case I think the public benefited because (Hastings) wasn't a beat reporter and wasn't worried about losing access to his source," Ward says. "The worst thing to do is to say you shouldn't report something because you're worried about losing access."
In the wake of the McChrystal story it's probably inevitable that Pentagon officials will clam up with the press for awhile, Ward says. But he says that's all part of the "constant tension that always exists" between the military and journalists.
"I used to do stories the military didn't like and they'd post them up on the bulletin board," he recalls. "I'd be persona non grata for several days. Many people wouldn't even eat with me.
"But over time they'd talk to me again because they realized I was fair," he adds. "We need to stick to our guns and be fair and balanced."
