Jim Van Vliet - Facts of the Case

Case Study #1 Ð'- Jim Van Vliet

Facts Of The Case:

Jim Van Vliet was fired from his position at the Sacramento Bee when his editors discovered that the sports writer had written an August 7, 2003 column about a San Francisco Giants game after he had watched it on television rather than going to the stadium. He also quoted players in the game from archive interviews by other sources, giving the impression that he had interviewed them himself.

Nature Of The Ethical Dilemma:

The decision Van Vliet had to make was whether or not to attend the game and report on it, a process that takes time and work, or cut corners and file the story using plagiarized information that, while not inaccurate, is presented in a deceptive way.

Values and Assumptions Involved:

-The Sacramento Bee is safe to assume that all writers will act according to guidelines of The Society of Professional Journalists. Some of these guidelines include:

*Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.

*Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.

*Never plagiarize.

-The sports section, as well as the readers, are reasonable to assume that sports writers will attend the event that is being covered and conduct interviews with key participants afterwards.

Stakeholders To Whom Moral Duty Is Owed:

-Editors Ð'- The writer has a moral duty to write the best piece possible, without fabricating any quotes, recreating a scene the reporter is not present at and omitting essential facts.

-Public Ð'- Above all, the writer owes his readers an accurate and full description of events covered and a commitment to the truth.

Opinion

Van Vliet deserved to be fired. Even though he was a veteran reporter who had worked at the Bee for over thirty years, his reporting illustrates the laziest a journalist can get as well as a complete shattering of the trust of his employer and readers.

Sports journalism is perhaps one of the most sensory forms of writing. For the sports fan that cannot make it to the stadium, taut writing is the closest substitute for actually experiencing the excitement. But sports journalism cannot