Micro Issues

$1.$ Do you agree that police officers are ethically permitted to use

deception but journalists are not?

$2.$ Was the Spokesman$-$Review justified in using deception? Under

other what extreme circumstances do you believe deception might

be justified?

Midrange Issues

$1.$ Some critics claimed that West$$s story only would come out in a

provincial, conservative community, and that his story would not

have been news had he been the mayor of Chicago or Miami. Do

you agree?

$2.$ Sissela Bok says deception might be permitted if the act passes the

test of publicity. Does the Spokesman$-$Review meet that standard?

$3.$ Should the use of a forensic computer expert in this case be

characterized as the ends justifying the means? Why or why not?

Macro Issues

$1.$ Should there be a wall between the public and private lives of

public officials? At what point do public officials$$ private lives

become public concern? Are public officials$$ sexuality always part

of their private lives?

$2.$ The Spokesman$-$Review is locally owned by the Cowles Publishing

Company. The family business includes a downtown mall with a

parking garage, which was developed in financial partnership with the

city of Spokane. The garage has been subject to repeated lawsuits and

controversy. Some critics believed that the Spokesman$-$Review$$s delay

in reporting about the mayor was due to a conflict of interest. Editor

$166$ Chapter $5$

Steve Smith insists that the story was reported as the facts became

evident. How do locally owned media companies manage covering

their own communities without incurring conflicts of interest?