Ethics Assignment

1. When Smith said it was newsworthy if he was the mayor, he meant that the story needs to be read under certain conditions. People with a big title or is an icon nationally or locally have a big target on their backs. Not many people would care about the story if it happened with a person know one knows. But since its a mayor, the story is huge. People looked up to this guy and voted for him for a reason and know they must feel cheated or lied to.
2. Morlin knew he couldn't personally create an identity on Gay.com and disguise himself as someone else. The newspaper would not allow that, so he found a loophole to get the information he wanted. He hired someone on the side to do the dirty work for him so he could have a story. There was nothing illegal about what he did, so he felt what he did was legal and clever and didn't get in trouble.
3. Big stories get a lot of press. When a cities own mayor gets in trouble, several articles are going to be published about it. And with charges pending or the story is ongoing, newspapers are going to update people and bring up new info. Spokane newspapers have an audience that is affected by this scandal. Their largest market is the city that believed in this leader. They deserve to know everything there is about the story.
4. This whole story benefits nobody. If anything, the people of Spokane got to know the truth about their mayor, but most of the story invaded his privacy and was very personal. No one would care if the person in trouble was some nobody who lived alone. The people that are harmed are the people of the city who need a leader, the gay community, and family and friends of Jim West. I don't think the outcome was worth it. There was too much drama and effort put into this, and little to show for it. People don't care about the job offering, just the sexual confrontations with other men. That is his personal life, and now it has ruined it forever.
5. I can see why people are unhappy with how the Spokesmans-Review handles its reporting. They are very aggressive and fight hard for details. The second story seems like they are making a story out of nothing. They could be on to something, but nothing is for sure and they are trying way too hard. It kind of reminds me of paparazzi near Hollywood. The Spokesman seems very pesky and need to just take a break. Sometimes, they just need to not assume and let people live their lives. If they assume something and are wrong, it can still hurt a persons image for life. That seems pretty unfair to me.