1 -Warning - journalism thread: There seems to be confusion over reporters persistently reaching out to people who are the subjects of a story containing allegations against them. This is a basic journalistic obligation, to give people a fair chance to respond.
2 - If an editor sees a story containing serious allegations in which it says a person couldn’t be reached, they will usually ask how we tried and how often to be sure they were given every chance to tell their side.
3 - In a non-breaking news situation, the story will often hold to allow the reporter to try one more time.
4 - If the story says the person declined comment, an editor will often ask the reporter if the person is fully aware of all the allegations against them in the story.
5 - This means a reporter is not expected to just call and say ‘please get back to me.’ In a serious non-breaking news story we want to spell out the allegations and questions by phone, voicemail, email or hand delivered letter to give them every chance to respond.
6 - If we have not done this, in a non-breaking news situation, we will often hold the story until it is done and the person is given a fair time to respond.
7 - We have had some subjects of stories with allegations about them not acknowledge a reporter’s attempts to reach them until they instead complain to an editor that the reporter is leaving messages for them. That is the first time we knew they had received the messages.
8 - No one is obligated to respond to a journalist’s attempt to get their side of the story. But if there is only silence the reporter will be doing everything they can to at least be sure they know the story is coming and what the allegations are against them.
9 - In other words, those annoying or embarrassing attempts to reach people is a serious professional obligation to be fair and give them a chance to tell their side of a story, point out inaccuracies or clarify a confusion. They are doing their job.
10 - It is not always a pleasant job. But imagine what it would be like if reporters did not try this hard to give people a fair chance to respond to allegations about them. That world is a worse world for everyone.
