Periodistas honrados

Chris Roush publica en su columna de BusinessJournalism.org, una serie de recomendaciones éticas, al hilo del último escándalo de escuchas ilegales de Hewlett Packard.

No están todas las que son pero sí son todas las que están:

1. It's OK to accept information and documents from sources within a company, but don't try to force someone to cooperate with you.

2. It's not OK to take documents from a person's desk while visiting a company.

3. It's OK to attend meetings where executives will be present that don't have anything to do with their company and ask them questions.

4. It's not OK to break into a company's phone system -- even with permission from an employee who has given you the code. This got a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter fired in 1998.

5. It's OK to call executives at home if there is breaking news after working hours or on the weekend.

6. It's not OK to misrepresent yourself as someone other than a business journalist to obtain information from a source or interview someone.

7. It's OK to use any and all available public records to ferret out information about a company.

And although it shouldn't need to be said, it's not OK for a business journalist to do what Hewlett-Packard did --obtain phone records of people by posing as that person.