My first major lesson in journalism ethics

I made a major mistake on Monday evening. After leaving the newsroom and heading home, I sat down with my computer and began perusing The Mid-Majority, a small college basketball site that features volunteers who go and write about smaller Division-1 schools on an unpaid basis. I have written multiple stories for this site before and was interested in doing something at a conference tournament near Columbia, Mo. at some point this March.

After looking at the various conference tournaments for a few hours, I applied for media credentials to the Summit League tournament in Sioux Falls, SD., and the Sun Belt Conference tournament in Hot Springs, Ark., both of which were on the same weekend in early March. I wanted to cover one of these tournaments for The Mid-Majority and write a couple of basic game recaps from the stands — I didn’t mark the box for press row — for fun and experience.

What did I do wrong here? Two major things: first, I didn’t consult my editor at the Missourian, Greg Bowers, about potentially covering either one of these tournaments. Second, I applied on the sheet for credentials for The Mid-Majority but listed my ‘current organization’ as the Missourian, a big lapse in judgment on my part. Yesterday, Greg emailed me obviously displeased and told me he wanted to meet with me.

Today, I sat down with Greg and Tom Warhover, the Executive Editor at the Missourian, about my lapses in judgment. After explaining the situation as best as I could and admitting that I hadn’t been thinking, they chastised me and warned me about breaching ethics and procedural issues within journalism. My throat was dry as I could barely speak, so upset and disappointed with myself. Greg told me that “I was at the cliff’s edge” and cited a loss in trust and the importance of integrity within the field as two reasons he was disappointed.

While I let Greg and the Missourian down with my silly lapses in judgment, I am eager to get back out in the field and bang out a great story to get headed back on the right track. Spurred by this momentary lapse, I am cognizant that I must always be thinking ahead within this field. I need to be totally forthcoming with my editor and I must be able to recognize a potential issue before it becomes a problem. I have learned a number of critical lessons from this unfortunate mistake and I will be applying them not only for the rest of the semester, but throughout the course of what is hopefully a long career within sports journalism.

— J