Carol Leonnig, an investigative reporter of the Washington Post and also a Pulitzer Prize winner, was giving a lecture at the Foster-Foreman Conference on Wednesday, October 28, 2015. At the conference, she talked about her experience covering a shooting incident happened at the White House back in 2011. This particular story she investigated was about how poorly the American Secret Service was when it came to protecting the president’s family. The investigation that she took years to accomplish, proved that the Secret Service Organization was not doing their jobs properly and effectively for many years. And this shooting incident perfectly revealed this serious misconduct that the society was not aware of.
This shooting was carried by a 21 year old man named Oscar Ortega. He managed to shoot at the second floor of the White House, where Obama’s daughter and her grandmother were at. Luckily, both president Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were not in the White House at the time. It took four days for the Secret Service to find out that this shooting incident happened, and the organization did not inform the president about it at all. As according to Leonnig’s investigation report, the Secret Service group was partying instead of preparing for the President family’s arrival. Under the proof of these evidence, there is no doubt that the Secret Service was held responsible for not prioritizing the President’s safety.There were two ethical issues that stood out when covering this story, the accuracy of the information and the approach you choose to get those information.
It was indeed quite difficult to maintain the accuracy and stay on the same track when reporting the story, according to Leonnig. Especially in cases like this, the sources were under huge pressure and risk when they were revealing these information. There were times they had to remain anonymous to stay out of trouble. These sources are often referred to as “whistleblowers”. They are constantly under the pressure of being fired, demoted, forced to resign, being treated badly by co-workers, etc.(Lindy Annakin) And quite often, they stopped giving out information and disappeared when they could not handle and pressure. When they terminated contact with Leonnig, her track would be cut off and she would have to look for new sources, who may or may not give her contradictory information. And when that happened, Leonnig would have to invest huge effort to verify and put all the little pieces together. Leonnig herself was also under huge pressure when the audience and other government officials wanted to know the true identities of her sources. But she knew that she had to protect her sources and at the same time filling the need of her story followers.
Another aspect in this case was the method of getting these information. As according to Leonnig, it took years to gain the trust of the Secret Service. It’s not hard to imagine how difficult it was to get the Secret Service people to talk to you after such a humiliating incident. It was almost like digging themselves a bigger hole if they chose to talk to a journalist and answer questions about why they did not do their job properly. Leonnig knew that reporting this story would probably put the Secret Service Organization into a more difficult situation. But at the same time, it was also necessary to reveal to the public that there were misconducts within the government system. People have the right to know about this.
Being truthful is the most important thing of being a journalist. (SPJ Code of Ethics, 2014) Your reputation is solely built upon how much people trust you. It is inevitable sometimes to make mistakes in this journalism world. Even journalists like Carol Leonnig who had years of experience made several mistakes when covering this story. But she owned up to it, admitted the errors in her story reporting and then publish a second report to fix whatever that she did wrong. It’s not acceptable for journalists to hide their mistakes just because they don’t want to be embarrassed. The accuracy of your story is the fundamental element of building a healthy relationship with your audience.
Leonnig’s lecture was truly touching and compelling. She was perfect role model material in this field for the younger generation. Her dedication to her career and ethical duty was admirable.
Reference:
Risk factors for mistreatment of whistleblowers; 6. Whistleblower mistreatment: identifying the risks; Lindy Annakin;Dr A. J. Brown
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp; SPJ Code of Ethics; Revised September 6, 2014 at 4:49 p.m. CT at SPJ’s National Convention in Nashville, Tenn.