Public Affairs classwork

Case Study No. 1-

There are several issues in this study. Should a reporter sacrifice a good working relationship with sources in order to get a story? Is it fair to run a story about a candidate that could swing the election? Should a reporter rely on anonymous sources rather than waiting for legal documentation in order to get the story in a timely fashion?

Cast Study No. 2-

The issues: A newspaper ran a story using a public document as a source and did not reveal the document as a source. Is that ethical? I think if the document is public record, then anybody, reporter or not, has access to it and it's fine to withhold the source. Also, the issue of when to confront a person at the heart of the matter is brought up. Do you go straight to them, even if you don't have ALL of the information you might need or do you wait and make sure you get it all straight. If you go straight to the person, it's possible the reporter would not have all the information or have something wrong. On the other hand if the reporter waits, they could miss out on the story.


Investigative article-

In Wednesday's Charleston Gazette, there is a story about a bill that would reduce the number of votes needed for Charleston and Kanawha County would need to form a metro government. According to the story, the bill (expected to be signed by Gov. Machin on Wednesday) "lowers the threshold for passing metro measures from the 55 percent in effect elsewhere in the state."

Originally, the constitutionality of the bill was questioned, but lawyers for the state Senate's Government Organization Committee "scrutinized" the bill to avoid issues with it being unconstitutional.

A similar issue occurred in Fairmont, W.Va., two years ago and never made it to a vote because the city and local governments could not get on the same page.

The reporter, Jim Balow, never gives the readers the adjust amount of voters the metro government would need to be put in place. This leads me to believe that while his story is on the bill that would reduce that number, he hasn't actually read the thing.

There are no graphics or photos with this story.

The public should be interested in this story. A metro government would play a part in almost every Kanawha County residents lives.

Obviously since the story was published today (Wednesday), there is not a follow up...yet. People are going to want to know what the new number of voters needed will be. With Manchin signing the bill this morning, I think it is safe to expect a follow up in Thursday's Gazette.

The headlines are not overwritten and do not use harsh words. "Metro bill likely to survive legal test, panel told" is to the point.

Balow spoke to members of the Charleston City Council, lawyers from the Senate group and to people involved in Fairmont's attempt to move to a metro government. This is a project idea, not a breaking story or information from a tipster. The metro idea has been circulating Charleston and Kanawha County for most of 2009, so this isn't something being spring on the people.