Rule 4 Quiz

Which of the following situations relating to promises in news reporting and/or citizen participation in public dialogue can lead to unreasonable legal risk? Tip: Click on each scenario to learn more.

A. You produce a citizen media site. A contested local election is just days away. A campaign manager approaches your reporter and promises information relating to the rival camp’s candidate, but only on the condition of anonymity. Your reporter promises to keep the campaign manager’s name secret and the campaign manager hands over records. The records show that more than ten years earlier, the rival candidate was charged with unlawful assembly and convicted of petit theft. Your reporter follows up with the candidate and other sources.

Turns out, the unlawful assembly charges arose because the candidate participated in protests supporting minority hiring for municipal construction projects. The conviction was for leaving a store without paying for sewing items worth roughly $6.00. (Some of these facts are taken from a Supreme Court case.) Your journalistic instincts tell you the real news here is that your anonymous source is running a smear campaign. You so want to blow the campaign manager’s cover.

Select A

Even though the promise was verbal and not in writing and even though the identity of the campaign manager was a matter of public interest, such a promise of confidentiality was determined by the United States Supreme Court to be legally enforceable. Don’t promise a source confidentiality on your own behalf or that of anyone else, unless you and your colleagues are all prepared to keep that promise.

B. You are a citizen journalist and an online publisher asks you to sign a contract in connection with reporting and writing you’ll be doing for her site. The agreement includes an “indemnification clause” spelling out that you are responsible for all liability and for her legal fees if someone files suit against her in connection with your work.

Select B

Do not agree to a freelance contract that makes you responsible for someone else’s legal expenses and liability. See whether the publisher will agree to a “best efforts” clause instead.

C. You promise that you’ll write a positive review or blog entry in exchange for access to an interview. Once you’ve secured the interview, you decide you have nothing positive to say. The truth is scathing and you write it for what it’s worth.

Select C

Be very careful about any promises or representations you make to any subject or source in the course of news gathering. Such promises can be legally binding. You don’t want to be restricted in what you can and can’t report to your audience. Even if you really believe a story is going to turn out to be positive, do not promise that outcome. It’s much wiser to keep your mind and options open and indicate that you’re making no prejudgments prior to completion of your information gathering and posting or other form of publication. Also, if you’re covering an issue or event or subject and your goal is to inform some segment of the public, while fact checking is always a good idea, don’t promise or give your subject the opportunity to review your story or manipulate your content prior to publication.

D. You signed a raft of forms on the first day of your previous job. You think there may have been a non-disclosure of company information form that you signed and now you want to anonymously blog a tell-all about the inner workings of your former company.

Select D

Before you publish any information possibly covered under a non-disclosure commitment, you’d better take a look at what you signed. If you’re unsure whether the information you plan to publish is covered under the agreement or you are certain it is but wish to publish the information anyway, better to run the specifics by a lawyer in advance. You may be perfectly within your rights to publish and maybe there’s even a whistleblower law that will support you in an effort to disclose wrongdoing. Still, a quick consultation will cost a small fraction of the costs you’re likely to incur should you become a defendant in a lawsuit.

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Rule 4 Quiz

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