8 Fairness and accuracy in reporting and interviewing

University student media should cover their broad campus communities.  Since universities don’t teach or model the Fox News or MSNBC approaches, college student media aren’t only pro-Greek or anti-independent. Yearbooks don’t just chronicle the softball team, the jazz ensemble, or the senior-year business majors. In other words, when students write stories for journalism classes, they aren’t taught to report one side at the expense of another.

So, student journalists aren’t biased, right? Well . . .

Related to Bias: Conflict of Interest

Without intending to, student reporters can appear to be biased because of associations with organizations and issues they cover. This is known as having a conflict of interest. A student can actually have multiple conflicts of interest. This is tricky for student journalists because one of the ways teachers and future employers evaluate academic success is through a student’s involvement in extracurricular activities. Groups and organizations are also where students make future job connections and learn skills outside class.

But extracurriculars can run headlong into ethics problems when it comes to reporting. The student reporter might be prejudiced in favor of an organization he or she is personally involved with. This is related to—but slightly different than—being prejudiced against another group like reporters at biased media organizations are. So, instead of trying, as Fox News does, to make Democrats look bad, the student with a conflict of interest might try to make his fraternity look better than others.

Here’s another example in the form of a question. If the college football reporter is also a fan of the college football team, is it possible for her to cover the team fairly? If she’s in awe of the coach, can she ask him tough questions after a loss? Is she willing to report a coaching mistake that lost the game? There are dozens if not hundreds of other possible conflicts of interest that involve Greek life, lab assignments, internships and more.

So, with this in mind, how in the world does a student journalist cover his or her university? Here’s the good news: Students don’t have to quit every extracurricular activity to be campus journalists.

It’s understood that part of being a student is being involved in clubs and organizations of all kinds. To deny students those opportunities would be to deny them a full-fledged college experience. And students certainly can’t deny or reject their affiliation with the university as a whole. So, go team!

At the same time, student journalists have to be mindful of the ways their affiliations might create conflicts—or the perception of conflict. Here’s a list of potential conflicts of interest from the New York University Journalism Handbook for Students. It says all student journalists should avoid the following:

• Writing about friends and family members.
• Accepting press junkets.
• Accepting hospitality.
• Accepting gifts.
• Accepting free tickets.
• Paying sources.
• Engaging in a quid pro quo.
• Making investments.
• Making political and charitable donations.
• Expressing opinions on social media.

This doesn’t just apply to students who work for student media. These are important things to avoid for classroom work as well. Clearly, some are easier to avoid than others.

Choosing Sources and Interviewing

As we’ve said, a legitimate news organization has reporters who go into the field and interview sources. But still, some stories with sources end up biased, one-sided or having a conflict of interest. So, while interviewing is key to reporting, there’s clearly more to it. There are important decisions to be made about who is interviewed and why.

The easiest way to avoid source problems is to follow New York University’s first rule, and avoid interviewing friends and family members. For students, the rule should be expanded to include bosses and romantic partners. Just in case the reason for this isn’t obvious, it’s because doing so puts reporters in precarious situations. Is a reporter going to ask a friend tough questions that might be detrimental to the friendship? What about a boss?

When there’s a conflict of interest, tough questions or a controversial story could personally impact the reporter. For example, the reporter could lose a friend — or a job. To avoid that, the reporter is unlikely to ask the tough questions, and important facts could go unreported. In extreme cases, it could lead to misinformation. That, in a nutshell, is why reporters must avoid conflicts of interest.

Two Sides (at Least) to Every Story

When a reporter talks to a source on one side of an issue, the reporter should almost always talk to someone who holds a different view. This makes stories fairer in most cases. For example, when reporting on the environmental benefits of cloth diapers, the story is strengthened by talking to someone who continues to use disposable diapers. (This example stinks, but bear with it.)

Clearly, cloth diapers are better for the environment. Isn’t it enough to have sources who affirm this? Well, no, for several reasons. First, some readers or viewers will have used disposable diapers. Those audience members want to see their perspectives represented in the story. The reporter must acknowledge this reality. Second, disposable diaper users can offer legitimate perspectives even if they can’t argue that disposable diapers are good for the planet.

For example, it might turn out that the community doesn’t have a service that picks up cloth diapers, cleans and returns them. So, all cloth diapers have to be washed by the parents themselves. That’s dozens of diapers per day, more than some new parents are able to do on top of all their other chores. The disposable diaper users might even be environmentalists, but they’ve weighed their options. If you’re the reporter, it strengthens your story to include that perspective. And just maybe, an entrepreneur might see the story and think, “Hmm. It sounds like our town needs a diaper service. I’ll start one.”

Presenting multiple sides is important for most stories. But not all. If a reporter interviews a source who’s an expert on Holocaust education, there’s no need to interview someone who doesn’t believe European Jews and other groups were murdered by Nazi Germans before and during World War II.

In these cases, reporters make judgments about talking to people who can offer legitimate perspectives on an issue. Sometimes there’s only one legitimate perspective.