A Congressman's Past

A Congressman’s Past
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October 5, 2012
Abstract
Reporting and publishing is such a vital field that reporter’s keenness and attention should be heavily invested. Factors to consider before writing ranges from the choice of what to write, the time to write it, who to write about and the consequences the article may have on the readers. Above all this, the ethics involved in writing must be the guiding point, unless one wants to find himself on the wrong side of the law. When choosing what to write about, the reporter will prefer to write articles the will catch the attention of the readers, but will it be ethical? Sex, for example, is one of the selling stories and when linked to a prominent person will doubtlessly make the story interesting to readers. This paper is about analyzing the appropriateness of writing a story that appeared in a newspaper concerning a sex scandal linked to congressman, three weeks before he sought re-election into the congress seat for the fourth time.
A Congressman’s Past
There are innumerable factors and credo values that must be adhered to when reporting news and publishing stories considering the ensuing ramifications and fairness to the parties involved. Ethics, especially in the field of news reporting is an abstruse subject as compared to other news reports. As far as ethics are concerned, there is no room for pat answers. The newsmakers must ask the right questions, consider the relevance of the story and justify the essence of publishing a story and the benefits the society could garner from the given story. A case in study is the story of The (Portland) Oregonian that decided to publish a story implicating a congressman David Wu in a sex scandal three weeks before election (Seelye, 2011). The democratic congressman sought to be reelected for the fourth time, when the newspaper published a story of the politician’s ex-girlfriend for assaulting her sexually 28 years ago. Deter...