The Three Fs

An interesting email — an ethical dilemma, really — popped up in my inbox last night.

I had emailed a source asking if he had time to meet, and he said he’d be happy to. I emailed him back: When?

Normal enough, right? His response, to say the least, surprised me.

“Sky, Perhaps we can do a quid pro quo.”

What?

I’m pretty sure I said that out loud when I read his email. I’ve never had someone ask me to do something for them in exchange for talking to me for an article before.

He didn’t request money. He didn’t request I not report on something. He didn’t request — let’s see, he didn’t request I dispose of a body or anything like that.

He did, however, ask that I do some “research” for him about the amount of students hit by cars when they cross College Avenue. So, I mean, that’s not, like, some … big … thing. But, still.

I don’t do — I guess you’d call that a “favor”? — favors for sources in exchange for quotes. No reporter should.

Obviously, you want to be as accessible to your sources as you hope they are to you. If my sources have questions, about anything, such as the reporting process, why I’m asking a certain question, I’m more than happy to answer them. Lately, in fact, I’ve explicitly asked them if they have any questions for me. About anything. Then I say if they think of any questions, feel free to call or email. No one’s taken me up on it, but I hope by saying it more trust develops between us.

But being accessible for questions and doing a source a favor are two different things. And it’s a slippery slope.

If I were to agree to help him out in exchange for him talking to me, what’s to stop him from telling other sources that I report in exchange for favors? My journalism would be tainted. My reputation would be tainted. A slippery, slippery slope.

It comes down to being free from faction — the three Fs. We don’t report in exchange for anything. We’d lose our independence, which is something we shouldn’t give up.

I don’t know if the College Avenue thing is a story; it might very well be; and I don’t know why he wanted help on it (it’s a strange request, isn’t it?). Not helping him out on it, in my opinion, is the right thing to do, though, even if that means he won’t talk to me. It’s really, yes, the principle of the matter.

So, I emailed him back and explained all that — in a calm and measured tone, mind you. I haven’t heard back from him yet.