ABSTRACT
The American reporter Janet Malcolm argues persuasively that journalists behave with treachery towards their sources. For her it’s inherent in the nature of the encounter between someone who is seeking information and someone who is willing to give it, because the interests of journalist and subject rarely coincide except in the simplest of publicity transactions – and those are unlikely to be the stuff of interesting journalism. Malcolm (2004: 3) suggests in her book The Journalist and the Murderer that journalists try to ‘justify their treachery in various ways according to their temperaments. The more pompous talk about freedom of speech and “the public’s right to know”; the least talented talk about Art; the seemliest murmur about earning a living.’ It’s true that questions about what is acceptable behaviour for a journalist are rarely to be answered simply. And what makes this perplexing for a beginner is that there is no clear answer to the question ‘How far can I go?’ in pursuit of a story or a quote: is it ever acceptable to break the law, or a code of conduct, or merely to break the bounds of good taste? What if your employer asks you to do any of those things? Do you have the right to refuse? This chapter looks at these questions, and some of the issues related to them.
