Salient's Editor Proposes Ethics Committee

Spurred by recent campus debates on appropriate journalistic practices, five campus publications are considering forming a committee on journalistic ethics.

Over the weekend, the Salient's editor-in-chief, Kevin A. Shapiro '99-'00 circulated a letter proposing the Independent, The Crimson, Perspective and Diversity and Distinction meet to discuss common concerns.

According to Shapiro, the proposed committee will focus on the proper procedures for campus publications covering controversial stories.

"We need to figure out what responsibilities we have to our fellow students," Shapiro said. "Student publications tend to hold themselves to national journalism standards, and I don't think those are very high."

Shapiro said student publications have a different relationship with the community they are covering than national publications have.

We're dealing with different situation than national publications are," Shapiro said.

Shapiro said that he began thinking about forming a committee a few weeks ago.

"After the Elster case broke, I started talking about it with people on the staff of the Salient and also Dean [Harry R.] Lewis ['68]," Shapiro said.

Although none have fully committed, most of the publications have agreed to explore the idea of a committee.

"We're planning to look into it," said Jia-Rui Chong '99, editor-in-chief of Diversity and Distinction. "Journalists have to be careful in how they shape the community. It's important to talk about."

"I think it's definitely worth talking about," agreed Will Reckler '99, publisher of the Independent. "Discussing these issues with other groups will help us refine our own methods."

However, Reckler said he is unsure of what exactly the committee plans to do.

"It wasn't made very clear to me," Reckler said. "I hope it doesn't start passing regulations on ethical behavior, because we would not agree with that at all."

Perspective President Michael K. Titelbaum '99 agreed that further clarification of the committee's goals is necessary.

"Before we sit down with people from five or six publications and Dean Lewis, we need to have an agenda," Titelbaum said.

Titelbaum was also concerned about the reasons behind forming the committee.

"I certainly don't want to see this turn into an opportunity to lynch The Crimson," he said. "That wouldn't be very productive."

Matthew W. Granade '99, president of The Crimson, said that The Crimson is still deciding whether or not to join the committee.

"Shapiro has asked a wide range of publications to join the committee, but the ethical issues facing a publication like the Salient, whose focus is opinion writing, versus the Independent or The Crimson, both of which strive for objectivity in their coverage, are startlingly different," Granade said.

"The purpose of this committee...should be made extremely clear to all participants before it begins," Granade said.

Shapiro said that he does not know how the committee will begin or how it will deal with the differences between publications.

"My hope is that we can collectively come up with an agenda," Shapiro said.