So this semester I wrote a story about a TB scare on campus. My source , who still wishes to be anonymous, told me that the student was international, male and lived in a SLU. My source wished not be mentioned in the article, so I approached Simon Brown, moderator of the international house who told me that the he knew the student personally and that he was a member of the SLU community. I essentially went somewhere else to get information I already knew, and I used Simon as my number one source. How would you have used the information from the anonymous source? Here's a link to my article: http://transcript.owu.edu/pdfs/archives/20080214.pdf

The page 1 story in today's Dispatch deals with Attorney General of Ohio Marc Dann and his admitted affair with a female staff member. After reading the article, and the several short articles concerning the same issue, something was made clear to me: The Dispatch either knows for certain that Dann was sleeping with his scheduler Jessica Utovich, or they think they have the evidence to support that claim.

The lead says "Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann admitted yesterday that he had an affair with a young female staff member[...]" Later in the article , the focus turns to whether Utovich spent the night at Dann's Dublin condo. The Dispatch also printed transcripts of interviews from April 22 and 30 between Dann and and former state sen. Ben Epsy. The transcripts also focused on whether or not Utovich spent the night at Dann's Dublin condo. Here's the link to the story and the side stories: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/05/03/AG_REPORT.ART_ART_05-03-08_A1_BTA3LJQ.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

Is the Dispatch beating around the bush? How do you feel the issue was covered in general.? Is this a story that needed so many side stories, or could suspicions be put to rest if the Dispatch simply asked Dann if he was sleeping with Utovich?

Miss Gay IU 1998

I recently visited Bloomington, IN and happened to pick up a copy of the Indiana University newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student. On the front page was a story about a drag-show. The story checks out, but the picture above it posed and interesting, and most likely infrequent, ethical question. The picture is of Miss Gay IU 1998, Brandie Ice, who is quoted in the story as saying "I don't pass as a boy anymore" (Ice apparently underwent a sex change, or so the reader assumes). Ice is wearing a bra in the picture with two Zip-lock bags filled with Chocolate Kisses serving as the cups. These Zip-lock, Chocolate Kiss cups, however, don't keep everything in and the nipple of Ice's right boob is visible. When I saw this I asked my self 'Did the editors miss this?' I didn't think they could have. The only ethical reason for printing the photo I can think of is that, since Ice is really a man and the boobs are fake, the editors equated running the photo with a photo of a bare-chested male.

I'll keep bringing my copy of the paper to class so everyone can see for themselves, plus I'd be interested in what the rest of the class thinks and how they would have run the picture.