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Read thoroughly all of the background and present-day details and consider everything presented before you. Consider the questions at the bottom when crafting your memo. Back up each claim you make with a persuasive combination of facts, ethical principles or codes, logic, fairness and expert opinion from outside research. While you will write this in the form of a memo, consider it to be a persuasive essay. Convince me.
Nick Cotsia is a reporter on the Metro staff of the Bursley Bulletin, the largest daily newspaper/most-heavily trafficked news website in the city of Bursley. It is the largest city in Yost County, which grew rapidly during the 1990s. Many businesses, both large and small, moved their administrative offices to Bursley and elsewhere in Yost County, because land prices were cheap, and the county offered tax breaks to businesses that established their headquarters in the county. The businesses triggered a housing boom, and wide-scale development of new retail outlets all over the county. Bursley’s population rose from 71,000 in 1989, to 177,000 by the end of 2009. More families moved into Bursley and Yost, and student performance countywide on standardized tests set new Yost County-highs five consecutive years from 2003 to 2007.
In recent years, though, Bursley was not immune from the financial hardships facing the rest of the country. In 2010, the unemployment rate for both Bursley and Yost County reached 10.1 percent, the highest for either jurisdiction since 1932. Foreclosure rates rose four consecutive years, reaching 1 in every 773 homes in the county in 2010.
During the period of transformation, the number of foreign-born residents of Yost County rose by 370 percent (from 1989 to 2009). There were many unproven claims that the large majority of these foreign-born residents were not legal U.S. citizens. Many do not speak English fluently, yet have been able to secure work in blue-collar jobs in either construction or the service industry. Frustrated by the sagging economy and rising unemployment, a large number of Yost County residents have turned their attention to immigration enforcement, saying undocumented residents should not be taking Yost County jobs that could potentially go to legal residents. Protests have sprung up around the county, and Cotsia has been sent to cover one outside of Bursley City Hall.
The protest is organized by a conservative group called Face of America, which is stepping up its demands for both Bursley Police and the Yost County Sheriff to pursue immigration enforcement (although the federal government is chiefly responsible for it). This comes on the heels of the death of Rev. Glenn Schemler, a prominent Catholic priest, who was killed last week by an alleged drunk driver. Police have arrested and charged in the incident a man whose temporary work visa expired six months earlier.
This is the county’s largest protest yet on the issue of immigration, as more than 1,200 people are estimated to be gathered on the steps and the sidewalk of the block of Bursley City Hall. Already today, about 50 people representing Face of America attempted to block the entrance to City Hall during lunchtime. They were asked by police to move. When they refused, they were arrested and submitted peacefully to authorities, who handcuffed each.
As the protests continue, Cotsia spots Michael Everson, who anchors the local news at 6 and 10 p.m. on Bursley’s NBC affiliate (WBUR TV). He is perhaps the most well-known journalist in the city, having spent the past 17 years with WBUR, as both a reporter and anchor. For the past nine years, Everson has held an assembly at the WBUR studio each August to give away school supplies to needy children, and also organized a free Thanksgiving dinner for underprivileged families in the gymnasium of West Bursley High School.
After the police arrest the 50 people blocking the entrance, Cotsia spots Everson holding hands with other protesters on the sidewalk in front of City Hall, swaying side to side in unison, without saying anything. They are not causing a disruption.
Cotsia continues his reporting of the event, returns to his office and files his story to his editors. The story is online by 8 p.m., and editors have plans to put it on the front of the Metro section in the following day’s newspaper.
That evening, the lead story on the 11 p.m. news broadcast of the CBS affiliate (WYOS) focuses on Everson protesting. The story, clearly used to take a jab at a rival network, highlights what WYOS called an obvious conflict of interest: a reporter participating in a very controversial issue. According to the WYOS report, Everson said he had not to come cover the protests, but only to observe, and joined the group after his neighbor (who was protesting) saw him. On camera, Everson told WYOS, “Nobody has been a bigger advocate for the people of Bursley and Yost County than I have. Anyone who doesn’t believe I have the people’s best interests at heart has not been paying attention to my work the past 17 years.”
The following morning, WBUR received dozens of phone calls from viewers, who were split on the issue; some called to express admiration and praise Everson for representing the people of Bursley. Others, meantime, felt it was absurd for a reporter to participate in an event like this. Some in the Bursley media speculated the focus of the WYOS story was retribution for a story Everson did two years earlier for WBUR. In that story, Everson reported allegations of sexual abuse from two former girlfriends against former WYOS reporter Ryan Freeman, who was never charged with any crime, but subsequently, left the station. WYOS news director Sharat Reddy denied any such motivation for the story.
Later that day, during the WYOS news broadcast at 12 noon, WBUR general manager Jodi Schwarz expressed disappointment in Everson, and said she plans to hold a staff meeting in the coming days to remind employees from participating in events that could be subjects of news coverage. Everson told WYOS that he maintains he did nothing wrong and made it clear he was not at City Hall in a journalistic capacity.
Later that day, when Everson is anchoring WBUR’s 6 o’clock news, his co-anchor, Laurie Schimpf, reported on the protests. Everson immediately followed with a comment that he attended the protests “as a matter of personal convictions” and assured the WBUR audience that he has never reported on the immigration issue, and that any perception gleaned from his “appearance at City Hall” would not influence his reporting on any other issues.
At 6:30 p.m., as Cotsia is finishing a story on a robbery that afternoon of a Bursley fast-food restaurant, he gets an email from someone who identifies himself as “David” in a Gmail account. Attached are a series of photos from the protests, including several that show Darren Rosenberg, one of three assistant editors of the Bulletin’s Business section, clearly participating in the protests. Cotsia calls Rosenberg and asks him about it. Rosenberg confirms being at the protests, but declines to acknowledge whether that is him in the photos. “I have nothing more to tell you about that,” he said. When comparing the face of the person in the photos with the headshot of Rosenberg in the Bulletin’s staff directory on its web site, Cotsia feels there is no doubt it is the same person.
Cotsia contacts his supervisor, Assistant Metro Editor Marc Snider, shows him the photos and tells him about the conversation he had with Rosenberg. Cotsia and Snider discuss the matter, but come to differing opinions on how to handle it. They decide to go to the office of Metro Editor Rachel Rumquist, and brief her on the situation.
You are Rumquist, and you must decide whether to report on Rosenberg’s participation or not. Write a memo with your decision and an explanation. In your explanation, make sure to account for all the details and background provided. In addition, make sure to address the following questions:
– Do you need to report that one of your colleagues also participated in the protest? Does this merit public awareness? Explain why or why not, citing both traditional news standards and ethical codes discussed this semester. Does it matter that Everson’s participation has been reported by local media, but not by the Bulletin?
– Does it matter that Rosenberg is not publicly recognizable like Everson? Because Rosenberg is an editor and not a reporter, his byline does not appear in the Bulletin. Everson, on the other hand, is on television twice every weeknight.
-Are you making an exception for yourself? Is the decision you are making with respect to this particular situation consistent with how you would make the decision were you not reporting on one of your own employees?
Head you essay like a memo (“To: Marc Snider and Nick Cotsia. From: Rachel Rumquist. Re: Protest coverage”), and make sure you address all of the ethical issues at hand here. Maximum length: 800 words. Due at the start of class, 9 a.m., July 31.
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