Reply to Author's book publication cancelled after a tweet reporting on a WMATA employee eating on the metro

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Should a Washington Post journalist get fired 
if he documents a crime in action?
Or some kind of bad behavior in public?
[/quote]

The answer is that it depends.

When you work in a newsroom, you are expected to exercise news judgment. Is something newsworthy or not? Will you do more good than harm with this story, or more harm than good? Is there a question that matters to your readers you are attempting to answer?

There's no black and white answer to whether something is newsworthy - it requires good judgment, a sense of what is important and interesting in the right balance.

Even here: A reporter could legitimately do a piece on Metro employees eating on the train. But it wouldn't likely just be like this - just posting a photo and saying, "HEY LOOK AT THIS METRO EMPLOYEE." You'd need a hook, you'd need a puzzle to solve. So, like, you could ask, is this common? If so why - because they don't care about the rules, because they know the rules don't matter, because they don't have time to eat somewhere else, because they're jerks who like rubbing it int he faces of those who can't eat on the train? I would say given the potential consequences of showing a Metro employee eating on the train, you probably would not just use a candid photo in your story here - you'd probably use stock imagery, or blur the person's face, or do something that would not make that person the focus.

The calculus changes if the Metro employee is, say, someone famous. Let's say it's an ex-TV star now working for Metro, who's spotted eating on the train. Then you'd probably say that a photo with a caption is enough for newsworthiness. Someone being or having been famous opens them up to more scrutiny and more public interest. Then it's mostly just a weird news story, in that case - not really news news.

And so on.

source: I used to be a reporter in DC.[/quote]
You seem to believe the answer is a matter of opinion and should be debated every time. I'm sorry, that's ridiculous.[/quote]

Well yes - news judgment is a matter of opinion. There are some stories you obviously do or don't cover. And others where editors and reporters would debate whether to cover them.

Do you not get that? I would think it would be obvious. You have judgment and discretion. It's part of what you are valued for as a reporter or an editor.[/quote]
Don’t lots of people first decide who is doing what? Then based on that, you decide if you want to report it. And how you’re going to report it.[/quote]

I can only speak to the newsrooms I've worked in. But no, in my experience generally reporters are expected to be "entrepreneurial" - to find good stories on their beat. Sometimes an editor will say no, or will come to the reporter and say "go cover XYZ thing." But a big part of your job is to know your beat, find the news, and have the judgment to know which stories are worth pursuing and what angles to take on them.

I worked in online media. I suspect it's different for TV news. I don't know how it is at print papers. I've done some freelancing for print papers - then, I came to editors with story ideas and they said yes or not. We had an idea about the angle the story would take before I got writing, then it was refined over the course of reporting and writing and editing the piece. Freelance pieces are a different process, though, from when you're on staff.[/quote]

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