As a high school sports reporter, stirring controversy wasn't in the job description for the Star Tribune's David La Vaque. However, the decision he was faced with while covering the 08-09 prep hockey season had the potential to raise a few brows.

Any news about the defending 2A state champ Pioneers was probably worth a phone call, and this story needed an explanation. La Vaque had worked with head coach Bill Lechner in the past and didn't hesitate to get in touch with him about the suspensions.

"This just had a feel that there was something more to it," said La Vaque. "The minute he answered the telephone I could tell that something big had happened."

Lechner would not identify the players or explain why they were dismissed. He only said that they would remain students at the school.

Reporting the story was a must, so La Vaque continued to follow up with people close to the team.

"I confirmed, off the record, the names of the players with two dads," said La Vaque.

The information was consistent with the names listed on the message board. La Vaque now had to decide on identifying the players in the story. He said that decisions like this are different from news you see about professional and collegiate athletes.

"Sometimes you're dealing with a 17-year-old," said La Vaque. "You can be writing about a senior in high school, but a lot of times they're still a minor."

Still, the decision wasn't one of legal concerns. Printing the names of suspended players is legal, even if the players are minors. The Republican Eagle, a community paper in Red Wing, Minn. has a long standing policy to print suspensions. Past editor Jim Pumarlo explained the Eagle's stance in a Jan. 1991 column.

"Missing players can affect a team's performance," the column read. "That's the primary reason we report them. It's part of the game story. If a player is injured, it's reported. If someone is out for other reasons, that ought to be told, too."

The column went on to explain that sports coverage is a major interest of the community, and therefore every aspect must be covered. Along those lines, high school suspensions are often the result of drug and alcohol abuse. The Eagle again stated that this is a matter that concerns the community at large since there is so much time and effort spent on combating these problems.

Pumarlo also wrote that coaches, "can use the suspensions in to work positively with youths, and make them better for it."

Perhaps the most compelling argument in Pumarlo's article was the last three words: "It's the truth."

La Vaque's dilemma was a question of ethics. At first, he took an approach similar to that of the Republican Eagle. He identified the four players in his original story with the reasoning of reporting the facts. He passed the story on to his editor for review. The final decision was made for him. The players would not be named.

La Vaque asked why his original story needed to be changed. Why not run the names?
"My editor said that the players were off the team, and it was over," said La Vaque. "You have to ask the question, 'Does the community at large benefit from knowing names?'" The editor's decision was that it didn't.

La Vaque's final story on Jan. 10 was a 150-word news brief. Only the information provided by Lechner was reported. An excerpt of the first two paragraphs of the article giving the bulk of the story is as follows:

"Four prominent players on the defending Class 2A state champion Hill-Murray boys' hockey team were kicked off the team for an unspecified violation of team rules.

Bill Lechner, the school's activities director and boys' hockey coach, confirmed that four players are off the team but would not give their names or any details about the rules violation."

The Star Tribune's competitor, The Pioneer Press, had a different idea as to how the story should be reported. Six days after LaVaque's story, the Pioneer Press ran a 500 word article about the Hill Murray team. It focused on the team moving forward with new leaders. However, in the seventh paragraph, the players were identified as follows:

"Lechner and school administrators maintained their stance Thursday on not identifying the players or the infraction that led to the dismissals, which includes the playoffs and the Class AA state tournament -- if the Pioneers make it that far.

Based on scoring summaries from Hill-Murray's previous two games, forwards Nick Widing, Paul Prescott and Isaac Kohls, and defenseman Alex Kelly -- all seniors -- have not played since the Pioneers' 5-2 loss to St. Thomas Academy on Jan. 8. The next day, Lechner informed the dismissed players of their punishment."

La Vaque was content with his editor's decision not to print the players' names. For this particular story, he agreed that there wasn't much to gain by knowing names. However, he said that some people expect prep athletes to only be shown in a positive light.

"Frankly, I don't know how I feel about that because we spend a lot of time building them up."

Patrick Johnson is a sports reporter for the South Washington County Bulletin in Cottage Grove. He agrees with La Vaque that a lot of high school sports coverage is positive. Johnson believes that the context of high school sports is different from most other sports coverage.

"At the community level, we kind of have an obligation not to call out the kids and not be too hard on them," said Johnson. "However, I think we do have an obligation to report what's happening, the facts."

Phil Kuemmel is the activities director at Park High School in Cottage Grove. He agrees that the facts need to be reported, but it's good for the community to have a positive focus.

"To me these are high school kids," said Kuemmel. "The local paper, I feel, should be supportive. There are a lot of good things that come out of our sports programs and the paper should do the best they can to report that."

Kuemmel said that naming suspended players is unnecessary because people will still know about it. Printing the names is like rubbing salt in the wound.

"The things (the athletes) do are doing on the field are very public," said Kuemmel. "All anyone has to do is go to a game and see that the top four players aren't playing and they'll hear about why."

Although the mediums of journalism and news may be constantly changing and evolving over time, many people would like to think that the ethics that go with good journalism remain static. They believe that if the code of journalistic ethics continues to be followed, good journalism can continue to be produced. These values are being questioned as the popularity of the Internet news continues to grow. A study that was done by PBS's show "Frontline," shows that on a typical day, 23% of Americans get their news from the Internet. This study shows that while all other forms of media are losing viewers, the viewing trend of Internet news is on an upward climb.

To start with the first issue, Lasica points out that the stories that are posted on the Internet have an opportunity to do what no other form of media can do. The sources used in the story can be linked to other sites that can give more background information on what is being said. Though the Internet postings may be quick and might lack the amount of reporting that other forms of media go through, they can make sure that the sources are credible by creating these links.

Chris Clonts, who is the online editor for the Pioneer Press, agrees that online journalism can be more accurate.

"They have more credibility because they are more up to date," said Clonts of Internet news sites. "They are more complete."

Lasica addresses the second issue with a comparison to other media outlets. He states that radio and television have breaking news stories that must be delivered just as quickly as stories that are being posted on the internet. The quick story is not a new phenomenon, but rather a technique that has been used for quite awhile now. He also states that though this is true, news organizations have to be careful that they do not get caught up in competing with the other news outlets.

When asked about being competitive with other news outlets, Clonts was quick to admit that their most competitive beat is sports. He said that they are always trying to keep up to date with the sports to try and get it out there before television and radio. This being said, Clonts was sure to point out that the question of ethics never goes unasked.

Clonts described one major incident where they had to make an ethical decision about speed. In the summer of 2007, when the I35W Bridge collapsed, Clonts said that they wanted to confirm the facts before posting on the internet.

At the time he was working for the Star Tribune. This organization was not the first to post a story of the collapse online. Clonts noted that this was a big event and it was important to get the facts straight before posting.

"We wanted to confirm it," said Clonts. "We thought 'this is going to totally freak people out if posted online."

"You never want to be in a position where you're gambling. Speculations need to be attributed," continued Clonts. "Generally people are pretty good at holding off on things."

The third issue seems to be the most problematic to the readers. Clonts addresses this issue.

"With every minute the story is up, judgment on whether the story is fair is in that moment," said Clonts. Because it is being posted quickly, Clonts recognizes that the story may not be balanced, but it is definitely fair. He said that everything that they put up is fact checked. It only becomes not fair if the story remains up for awhile without being updated with new facts.

Although the online newspapers seem to try their best to be accurate and ethically sound, they do make an effort to point out that they are not perfect and should not be held liable for mistakes. The website for the Star Tribune mentions this in their disclaimer.

"While StarTribune.com strives for accuracy, it does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information or database on our service. Nor does StarTribune.com guarantee or warrant that any files available for downloading will be free of defects. Neither the Star Tribune nor any of its information providers shall be liable in any way to you or the other parties for delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions in the material published in StarTribune.com."

An article by Missy Kelley called "Ethical Challenges in Online News" mentions that the fact that the online editors have the ability to correct themselves immediately can be dangerous. This is because the editor can just make the correction without mentioning that they made one. This creates a feeling for the editors that if they make a mistake, it is not such a big deal.

Becky Glander, the editor of the small community newspaper, the Pine City Pioneer, has had to deal with a problem similar to this. There was a story posted on the paper's website about a woman in a food shelf. Glander said that people wanted to donate money to the poor woman, but the woman might have had ulterior motives.

"Well, it came out that the woman's motives may be questionable," said Glander. "Since the story online lasts forever in the archives, I pulled it off finally after being asked to do so."

This was and example of when fresh news about a story arises that changes the outcome and position of the people involved. This seems to be a difficult problem to deal with for Internet journalism because the story is kept in the archives until something is done about it, like Glander eventually had to do.

In the book The Elements of Journalism, authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosentiel question the ethics of the news on the Internet. Their problem seems to be more with the blog style of news.

"We are facing the possibility that independent news will be replaced by rumor and self-interested commercialism posing as news," said Kovach and Rosentiel.

In another article from The Quill, author Fred Brown gives an ultimatum for journalism.

"The crucial value of new communications technologies and those who control them is that they be committed to serving democracy, rather than themselves," writes Brown in his article. "Without this commitment to foster social glue, they will push society to fragmentation and the erosion of the nature of citizenship."

The journalism that Clonts does revolves around being ethical. Because of this, he feels that they hardly ever run into any problems.

"We don't bump into the walls very often," said Clonts. "Most of the process is built around ethical issues."

Clonts seems to feel that what he is doing adheres to this ultimatum and that his journalistic elements are just as credible as the other mediums of news.

"As long as responsible people are making the calls, it will work," said Clonts. "The established make it work. The question of ethics never goes unasked here."

The Washington News council is on the front-line of media ethics. Some see the organization as a revolutionary alternative to the court system; others see it as a biased obstacle to the media. It has yet to be determined if the WNC will be around in the coming years, but it cannot be denied that the council has shaped the media landscape in the region.

John Hamer is the Executive Director of the WNC. Before his work for the council, Hamer received a Masters in journalism from Stanford University, and worked as a journalist for many years. He also worked on the editorial board for the Seattle Times for 13 years. He said that the media needs an outside organization, such as a news council, to hold them to ethical models, such as honesty and transparency; the same models that the media expects from institutions they cover everyday.

"I continue to believe that there needs to be fundamental standards of ethics that are encouraged," Hamer said.

While news councils do not have any legal authority, Hamer said they can instill change through the power of publicity. Since its creation in 1998, the WNC has received 24 formal complaints and held a total of four official hearings.

"The people we have helped say that we have helped them hugely," Hamer said.

The main advocates against news councils, at least in the State of Washington, seem to be the media. Out of the four official hearings held by the WNC, the media organizations involved did not attend one.

"None have had the guts to show up in person," Hamer said. "They are shooting themselves in the foot."

Hamer said that the media organizations did partake in the hearings indirectly, through written statements or on the pages of their own editorial sections. Still, Hamer said he has received input from the Washington public expressing dismay at the lack of media participation in the WNC's hearings.

Recently, WNC/media relations heated up once again. Seattle CBS affiliate KIRO-TV aired two reports: one a few weeks prior to the 2008 Election, then another the night before Election Day. These reports alleged that Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed's office was negligent in preventing voter fraud. The first newscast reported that thousands of felons in the State of Washington were being allowed to vote and that the Secretary of State was not working to correct the problem. The second report alleged that the names of deceased voters names were being used to cast ballots in the state. Both of the reports can be viewed online through the WNC's Web site, www.wanewscouncil.org.

According to Secretary of State's Communications Director David Ammons, these reports were inaccurate.

"We were quite stunned when the stories came out," he said.

According to Ammons, the information in the videos was wrong. The video about felon voters contained an interview of a woman, Tracy Wilkinson, who was said to be a felon, and was still being permitted to cast ballots. Ammons said that the woman was, in reality, a misdemeanant who had never lost her right to vote.

The video alleging that the deceased were "voting from beyond the grave" contained an interview of an elderly widow of one of the alleged "dead voters." Ammons said that the reporter simply confused the name of the dead man with that of his living son, who had the same name and address. He said that KIRO was contacted to notify them of the inaccuracies on Election Day, but that the news station did not initially reply.

Having been a political writer in the State of Washington for the Associate Press for 37 years, Ammons said that he is familiar to the ethical standards journalists work under, and that he understands that news organizations will normally post some sort of correction when notified of inaccurate reports.

"It was like they didn't care," Ammons said of KIRO.

Secretary of State Reed said that he was "appalled" when he learned of the incorrect stories.

"In this day and age [the stories were] put up on other websites and blogs. We got a lot of feedback from disenchanted voters," Reed said.

Reed said that the reports were damaging to his office in that they unduly tarnished the trust between him and the voters that he represents. He also said that the damage control over the reports interfered with his work during a busy legislative session.

Both Reed and Ammons said that after KIRO could not be contacted about the inaccuracies, they filed a complaint with the WNC. They provided the evidence against KIRO, and also made sure that KIRO received the same information.

Despite the allegations against his stories, KIRO investigative reporter Chris Halsne said that he stands by what he reported.

"I wasn't confused in any way shape or form," Halsne said. "We take all complaints seriously, but we didn't get anything wrong."

According to Halsne, the allegation that Tracy Wilkinson is not a felon, but a misdemeanant, is incorrect.

"We talked to a judge about it; Wilkinson said she's was a felon. They [Reed's Office and the WNC] are absolutely dead wrong on that," he said.

Halsne stands by his report of the deceased man's name being used to cast a ballot saying that he found the dead man's name, and 1920 birthday, on the active voter roll. According to Halsne the name was removed from the roll when KIRO pointed it out.

According to David Ammons, KIRO did eventually contact Reed's office offering to pull the reports in question off of the TV station's Web site, but only if the office would agree not to notify the WNC about the deal. Reed's office declined. Eventually, Ammons said the reports were pulled off of the Web site.

Halsne admits that there was discussion between KIRO and Reed's office about removing the stories, but that the deal that was offered has been blown out of proportion. He said that KIRO simply told Reed's office that they simply did not wish to work through the WNC.

"The organization [WNC] is not interested in making media fare, it is run by people who are out to make the media look bad," Halsne said. "We will not work with the news council."

Halsne said that the fact that no other media organizations have participated in the official hearings conducted by the WNC is a justification for KIRO's refusal to work with the news council.

According to Halsne the stories were never actually pulled off KIRO's Web site. He said that since KIRO produces dozens of stories a day, the voter fraud reports were simply allowed, like all KIRO stories, to be pushed off of the site's archive. He also said the viewership of the stories had become extremely low, so there was really no reason keep them on the site. Letting the reports disappear was seen by KIRO as a compromise.

"We thought, 'if we can make a politician happy, we'll let them drop off,'" Halsne said.

Even though the Secretary of State's office did file a complaint with the WNC, the office decided not to pursue an official hearing for the case.

"A hearing would have involved more time," said Ammons. "It had already been several months."

Despite the decision not to hold a formal hearing, Reed thinks that working with the WNC has been a good decision.

"The WNC has done a great job at getting the information out," he said.

John Hamer said that, while there will be no formal hearing, the WNC has decided to hold a "virtual hearing" on the internet. Anyone can go to the WNC's Web site, look over the complaints submitted by the Secretary of State, and vote on whether or not the complaints filed are justified.

Hamer said that this virtual hearing is part of an effort by the WNC "reinvent" itself for the internet, and to get the public involved and educated on the issues that the news council deals with. Although he is unsure if the WNC will continue to exist in the coming years, he said that the organization has recently begun to make use of civic networking tools such as Twitter and Facebook. According to Hamer, these tools will allow the organization to survive in the rapidly changing environment of electronic media.

According to the WNC's Web site, there are three other councils in the United States: The Honolulu Community Media Council, the Minnesota News Council (MNC), and the New England News Forum. Members of these councils consist of people from a variety of different backgrounds including business, politics, and the media.

The WNC was based on the structure of the Minnesota News Council. According to its Web site, the MNC has been around since 1970.

The photographs are graphic--of a child with a cleft lip and palate, of twin boys with cataracts that stopped them from seeing, of a man whose tumor weighed over 6 ½ pounds deforming his face.

These patients had disorders--often tumors--that were slowly disfiguring their faces and making it almost impossible to live. One patient contemplated suicide; another was ostracized from his village.

The NEED staff had to figure out how to show the pictures with sensitivity, dignity and humanity, but also to tell the story at the same time, according to Stephanie Kinnunen, the editor in chief and co-founder of NEED.

"We had to figure out how not to exploit [the patients'] suffering," she said. "We decided to try and find what was relevant, what was personal and unique to each person. We wanted to capture the little pieces of each person's story."

Since the photos are so graphic, the NEED staff knew that the words underneath the photos would have to be short, telling paragraphs, which wouldn't take their readers long to comprehend, according to Kinnunen.

"We wanted to share who the people were before their surgeries and how their lives improved after their surgeries rather than focusing on just what was going on medically with them," Kinnunen said.

The NEED staff talked to Harrison about his experiences to get the unique part about each person shown in their photos, according to Kinnunen.

According to Harrison's blog, there are many happy endings. He wrote, "One man who
lived for more than a decade on the fringe of society, the man once monstrously deformed and rejected was now the instant and unlikely celebrity. It was truly something to see."

The NEED staff also had to decide how they were going to layout the images in a way that their readers wouldn't be blindsided by them and still get the message the staff was trying to send that hope is being brought by people who are doing humanitarian efforts all over the world.

"We knew the photos were graphic and that they might disturb some people," Kinnunen said. "We wanted to warn people so we put a disclaimer at the beginning in red."

This is an ethical problem that many journalists and editors face when graphic images come into play.

Almost all publications have restrictions to their usage of graphic images, according to Mark Anfinson, an attorney for the Minnesota Newspaper association.

"Though almost none of [the publications] have them written down," Anfinson said. "The key is the level of detail [the images go into]--what is the graphic image of and what the image is being used for. "

Anfinson said that the usage of the images differs from context to context. "What might be alright for one magazine may not be ok with another."

For example, what might be considered acceptable for an adult magazine wouldn't be for a children's magazine, according to Anfinson.

There are other situations about when to use graphic images that apply to all publications.
"By and large, most publications don't show dead bodies," Anfinson said.

According to the RTNDA's ethical guidelines for graphic content, before making an ethical decision on whether or not to use a graphic image, a journalist or editor should have a discussion of the pros and cons with a diverse group in your organization. A journalist should be asked if he or she was willing to include non-journalist at the discussion since they are more likely to be representative to your audience.

Kelly McBride, the ethical leader for the Poynter Institute, said there are different questions that should be asked before using the images. Some of them are: "What harm can come to the people in the photos? What alternatives are there to using the photos?

Would you publish these photos in your local community?"

According to the News release from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) called, "Danish Cartoon Coverage Should Be Guided by SPJ Code of Ethics," "Journalists should: treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving respect, and tell the story of the diversity and the magnitude of the human experience boldly ..."
In a case study dealing with the Danish cartoons conducted by the SPJ called, "Offensive Images," it is recommended that journalists look at who, what and how the images will affect the readers.

Journalists should look at different principals, according to the SPJ case study. The should ask the questions, "Is it freedom of expression? Or is it unnecessary provocation? Is there an acceptable middle ground between showing the blunt truth and minimizing the harm of insult?"

Whatever is decided the case study said, "It's important to have a serious discussion and a good reason for [the] decision."

In a round-table discussion, the NEED staff did just that. They went through the pro and cons of different layouts to see what seemed to be the least offensive, most compelling and which photos worked the best to express the story behind them, according to Kinnunen.

They ultimately decided that the only way to show the images would be with them together.

With stories that broach such a touchy subject, the purpose of the images has to be clear, Kinnunen said.

"We like to present the problem and the solution side-by-side," she said. "We want the images to show the beauty of the story."

For the first two pages are in spread form. The spread is solid black with two, white words, "Before" and " After" printed only once, dominating the pages. "Viewing Advisory," printed in small, red words indicated to the only other text on the left side, a message stating that the following graphic images were of disorders that if left untreated could become life threatening. There are no pictures to be seen.

This gave readers a warning that graphic images are coming up. The warning was a key issue that the NEED staff wanted to express, Kinnunen said.

The Poynter Online article called, "APME Survey: Readers Balance Compassion with Privacy when considering Disturbing Images," says that when dealing with graphic images, journalists use the "cereal test," which asks the simple question: "Would I want my family to see this photo at the breakfast table tomorrow morning?"

While media outlets are moving toward the trend of printing graphic images, according to the Poynter article, the key to deciding if a photo should be printed is to have healthy process for deciding which photos to use, how many photos should be used, where they are going run and what other contextual information is provided to the reader."

The best way to figure out if you should use the graphic images is to talk to your colleagues, and rely on their experiences with images, as well as your own, to make your decision, according to Anfinson.

The use of graphic images leads to both positive and negative reactions from readers. There will always be someone who will be unhappy, according to Anfinson.

Anfinson said the best way to deal with a negative reaction "is to explain why they publication used their photos. They are going to have a reason for publishing the photos.
It is important to explain their reasoning."

NEED's process was effective. The reader response to the article was flavorful, according to Kinnunen.

"We would hear about people donating to organizations who have never donated before," Kinnunen said in an excited voice. "Mercy also said there was a rise in doctor and nurses volunteering for their organization after the issue can out."

The Mercy Ship organization was pleased about the NEED article, according to Pauline Rick, director of Mercy Ships' public relations.

"We are very happy that NEED magazine would profile the Mercy Ships. We are always trying to raise awareness about the work that we do in Africa to bring hope and healing to the poor," Rick said.

Two years ago, Tom Hawley, editor of the Baldwin Bulletin, faced a decision. He had received an angry letter to the editor about a story that he had written, and had to decide whether or not to run it in the paper.

"It created more controversy than you can shake a stick at," said Hawley.

The story was about a local Muslim family who had received a Habitat for Humanity house.

There was controversy in the community as to why this family in particular had received the house, when there were so many families native to Baldwin who were in need. There was also a question as to the way in which the family was qualified to receive the house.

The story created a volley of letters to the editor on both sides of the issue. Hawley felt obligated to print letters from both sides after printing one. The argument got pretty heated, but he was able to screen the letters for any inappropriate language or libel.

That careful screening of letters to the editor is much harder these days, as the ability to comment about stories anonymously online is on the rise.

Jeff Holmquist, the managing editor of the New Richmond News, sees the many difficulties of online comments.

"A lot of newspapers are struggling with that feature because when a person comments, it's an anonymous comment. So, someone can spout off and not be constrained by moral or ethical issues," Holmquist said.

In fact, in a 2008 survey conducted by the Reynolds Journalism Institute & Associated Press Managing Editors, it was found that 64% of the newspaper editors surveyed thought that it was a bad idea that a website does not require a person to divulge their identity when commenting on stories. Only 40% of the public thought it was a bad idea.

Is more moderation the answer? According to an editorial article published in the Toronto Star, the author believes that the Star should step up moderator guidelines. While the newspaper does try to screen comments, many still read like ignorant rants. The author says that "clearly, the Star should also consider whether our guidelines go far enough."

Many times, comments launch into off-topic discussions. "Sometimes, people will wander off the topic or post things that have nothing to do with the story. It may be obscene, offensive, or racist," Holmquist said.

When comments turn personal, human nature can be displayed at its worst.

April Branum experienced this first-hand. According to Kelly McBride, an Ethics Group Leader at the Poynter Institute, in her article titled "Dialogue or Diatribe?", Branum experienced an onslaught of nasty comments from online readers.

Barnum, being a big woman, did not realize that she was pregnant with her son until two days before his birth. When a story was published in The Orange County (Calif.) Register about Barnum and the birth of her son, "online readers were unforgiving and cruel," said McBride.

According to McBride, users made many "fat jokes" about Branum, and the comment thread launched out of control. "Another person claimed she ate Krispy Kremes all day, another that fast food was her every meal. Not true and not true," she said.

Someone even logged in and made nasty comments back to the others under Branum's own name, causing the stereotype of the "obese, lazy, and vulgar woman" to escalate, McBride said.

According to McBride's article, Barnum wishes she hadn't gone to the newspaper at all, and urges those with stories to stay away from them.

How should newspapers control this problem?

According to Debra Hale-Shelton of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, in her article, "Blogs allow for venting, but liability is a concern," some editors moderate every posting, and will remove entire posts of a part of it is libelous. She uses Frank Lockwood, an editor for www.arkansasonline.com, as an example. She said that he won't put anything up for even a moment that contains libelous or profane language.

Some sites, however, such as the New Richmond News, are not moderated quite as closely.

"We do as much monitoring as we can and we take down non-factual posts," Holmquist said. However, "it still raises ethical questions about why we allow anonymous posts on a website."

It is almost alarming how quickly comments can turn personal.

For instance, in a story about a man sentenced in a prostitution incident on the New Richmond News website, the conversation turned to a discussion about the New Richmond Police Department. Disagreements occurred, leading commenters to get personal.

For instance, a user by the name of "David S" attacked another user's spelling errors, saying, "And, I like your spelling of 'victimless' with a 'u' instead of the usual 'i'. Was 3rd grade the best 4 years of your life or would that have been 5th grade?"

The comment section on The New Richmond News website lists in its terms and conditions, "Although we do not have any obligation to monitor this board, we reserve the right at all times to check this board and to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar...and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request."

They also provide an area for users to flag offensive comments.

In an article titled "How readers can help moderate comments," Gary Graca, the Editor in Chief of The Michigan Daily, says that newspapers usually don't have enough people to moderate all the comments on every story, and says that readers have a duty to help by flagging inappropriate comments.

New Richmond News does that, so do they have the right idea, or should comments be even more monitored?

There is no universal answer to this ethical question. Each news organization has the right to decide for itself how to screen online comments.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press uses much the same system as The New Richmond News. They use an online forum called Topix.net, and they simply urge people to "be polite." They also provide a link to their terms of service, and say, "Inappropriate posts may be removed by the moderator."

However, this doesn't seem to steer users away from making hurtful comments.

For instance, in a comment section for a story titled "'Snoopy,' 'Linus' characters vandalized in Sleepy Eye," among several other derogatory and personal comments, one user simply said, "Those damn cheeseheads. We need to close the border."

In a world where you can find almost anything on the web, how closely should online comment sections be monitored? Unfortunately, there is no one right answer, and journalists and newspapers continue to struggle with this ethical dilemma.

The Society of Professional Journalists' (SPJ) Code of Ethics states that journalists should "act independently" and "avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived." But where is the line drawn? How much of a reporter's personal life can editors and publishers control by this seemingly simple ethical suggestion? In some situations, these "conflicts of interest" are blatant and the answer is clear, no questions asked. But in most cases, there is no easy solution, no concrete line that can be set. Take Chuck Laszewski and Rick Linsk for example. One misinterpretation of a "conflict of interest" left them suspended without pay from their jobs at St. Paul's Pioneer Press.

When the tickets went on sale in August for the tour's stop in St. Paul, reporter Rick Linsk was thrilled.

"I didn't consider it as a political donation," Linsk said. "I'm a huge Springsteen fan. Anytime Bruce comes, I go."

Meanwhile, a handful of news organizations around the country were setting limits on their staff and banning them from attending the concert. There was no word from Vicki Gowler, the editor at the Pioneer Press, so Linsk bought tickets.

At the end of September, just a week before the concert in St. Paul, Gowler sent a memo out to her staff. The memo said that anyone who covered politics, elections, or serves for weekend general assignments shouldn't attend the concert. Linsk and Laszewski were on the investigative reporting team.

"My job doesn't fall into those categories," Linsk said. "I didn't consider [the memo] to apply to me."

But it wasn't so much Gowler's request that seemed unreasonable as it was the timing.

"She sent that memo a week before the concert," said Linsk. "She waited 'til she had her finger in the wind to sense where everyone else was coming from before making a stand."

Linsk and his wife attended the concert on October 5, 2004; Laszewski brought his son.

It wasn't until two days later that Linsk was approached by his editor. He was called into a series of meetings and chastised for attending the concert despite the email. Linsk and Laszewski were both given a punishment of suspension without pay for three days.

But instead of lying down and taking the punishment, the reporters and their union fought back.

They arbitrated the agreement to try and get the suspension overturned.

"We didn't think they had the right under our union contract to discipline us," said Linsk. "The paper didn't have the power to suspend anyone. They could change our beat, but couldn't suspend us."

Newspaper Guild Officer Mike Sweeny agreed. According to an interview by Fox News, he stated that the news organizations have a right to be concerned with the ethical choices its' employees make off-duty, but they can't be allowed to subjectively decide what is a conflict.

The arbitration involved dozens of people and dragged out for months. Almost exactly a year later, the reporters settled. They were awarded two of the three days pay they missed. A letter was put in their files reversing the suspension, but they were also given a strict warning if anything like this was to happen again.

According to Linsk, "Both sides got something."

What started out as a misunderstanding turned into a worldwide story. Articles ran in the Star Tribune and the City Pages. Dozens of letters to the editor were written, in astonishing favor of the reporters. Hundreds of bloggers across the world put in their two cents. Linsk and Laszewski were twisted into rebels looking for a way to defy their editor, rather than the Springsteen-loving concertgoers that they actually were.

"I didn't do a defiant thing," Linsk said. "This was not about politics, this was about rock and roll."

Gowler was unavailable for comment.

This story is just one of many where editors and publishers have punished their reporters for their personal lives becoming "conflicts of interest." Just this year, Marissa Blaszko, opinion editor of The Recorder, the campus paper at Central Connecticut State University, was fired from her position as opinion editor for her prominence in campus activism and her membership in the Youth for Socialist Action club.

This brings back the question of what really defines a conflict of interest?

"Conflict of interest back in the old days was if someone gave you something to influence you to write a certain way," Linsk said. "Now it's about revealing your personal preferences in a way that tips your hand; it's backwards, it's not what I learned."

Andy Schotz, the chair of the Ethics Committee at SPJ, agrees that there is no easy definition, but sides with the papers.

"The different organizations might have different opinions on what constitutes as a conflict of interest," Schotz said. "But no matter what, they want to avoid the appearance that their journalists are taking a particular side on something that they or the newspaper is covering."

The New York Times' ethical policy states that:

"The people of our company are family members and responsible citizens as well as journalists. Nothing in this policy is intended to abridge their right to live private lives - to educate their children, to worship and to take part in community affairs. But like other dedicated professionals, we knowingly accept disciplines - in our case, with the goal of ethical and impartial journalism."

Schotz agrees with this, saying that "you don't want to give up all your rights as a citizen, but as a journalist, you make sacrifices."

These sacrifices include serving on government boards or other government positions, giving money to a political party, or, as in the Pioneer Press case, attending politically charged events.

But some journalists question the necessity for the public to be unaware of a reporter's opinion.

"Everyone here has some personal bias," Linsk said. "Is it better for the readers if we hide it?"

Schotz thinks it is.

Regardless of what you do at the newspaper, he says, whether it's on the business side or the reporting side of the wall, you still represent the paper and your actions need to reflect that.

So are the ethical limits set for journalists too strict? There may never be a clear answer to this question. It will always depend on the person's job, the type of publication they work for, and of course, the situation. But as Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel say in "The Elements of Journalism," the number one loyalty reporters have is to the citizens and that is something that, no matter what the ethical issue at hand, should be maintained.

In January 2007, the city administrator spot in Rogers, Minn. became open after Gary Eitel was let go after 22 years. Behind the decision to let him go was the mayor of Rogers at the time, Paul Przybilla, along with two other men from the city council.

Within a few days of the mayor being sworn in, Eitel was let go as city administrator after he received his first performance review in 22 years.

"When he [the mayor] was running, he ran in a block with two other guys running for council. His primary goal was to get rid of the city administrator," Grawey said.

Eitel was part of tax increment financing [TIF], which gave deals to insight businesses to come in, which would in turn offset taxes for a few years.

At the time, Good Job First featured an article about how TIF was a controversial issue in various states throughout the country. Minnesota was one of those states. According to Philip Mattera's article, developers in Rogers, Minn. were waiting to see what would happen to TIF after Mayor Przybilla--who had campaigned against the overuse of subsidies--had taken office. Also elected to the city council were two critics of TIF. This gave the mayor and the two council members a majority on the issue.

"We have group meetings on how to cover such ethical issues," said another staff reporter for the Star News, Liz Nelson. "They were a harder council to deal with and they had control over many aspects of the area. Bob continued to talk with them in order to establish a relationship with one reporter. They were not really used to dealing with the media."

Following the end of Eitel's role as city administrator, Grawey covered another piece that featured the change Eitel had brought to the community during his 22-year-long career. Eitel noted that TIF was used to increase and encourage re-development and growth in the community.

Shortly after the administrator had been let go, the mayor along with one of the members on the council, Scott Adams, pulled Grawey into a back room to give him their side on why they let the administrator go. Grawey listened and recorded the interview.

"It would have been quite damaging to his character if I wrote a story based on their version. I wanted to interview this guy and give him the opportunity to answer their allegations," Grawey said.

He interviewed Eitel and presented both sides in his story.

"I knew I was setting myself up to be blackballed," Grawey said. "But you know what; you just have to do that."

After the story ran, both the mayor and his comrade from the council instructed the city staff persons that they could not talk to Grawey. They were told that if Grawey was to contact them that they had to report any questions he asked.

"After that, it was extremely difficult to talk to other city officials," Grawey said. "It was difficult for a while."

Mark Anfinson, lawyer for the Minnesota Newspaper Assoctiation, deals with legal and ethical issues such as this one on a daily basis.

"This kind of situation comes up all of the time," Anfinson said. "It's a common situation that reporters face and it's a difficult one because you can often become very dependent on the good will of local officials. If you have a good relationship with local officials they can feed you all kinds of information that you might not otherwise get, and that's valuable for a reporter of course."

For Grawey and his fellow staff at the Star News, the relationship they have with their sources is important, which is why they hold meetings that cover how to handle certain ethical situations such as this.

"We talk quite a lot and sometimes we talk one-on-one with reporters," said Associate Editor for the Star News, Joni Astrup. "We have a staff meeting twice a week and everyone sort of weighs in. It's really a good process so you can get everyone's perspective. Some people have been here longer and newer people have fresh ideas to offer. Bob has good judgment. They often handle a lot on their own and make decisions on their own too."

Providing citizens the facts from both sides of the story has become an underpinning for reporters. The Society of Professional Journalists notes that the duty of journalists is to be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel note in their book The Elements of Journalism, that part of the essence of journalism is verification and providing the citizen with accurate reporting.

"It does eventually create a significant ethical dilemma quid pro quo for the official; you'll treat me pretty well in your news coverage if I give you information," Anfinson said. "These reporters in those situations run into those situations to properly tell the story, and in Bob's case, they have to offend one of their valuable sources. How that situation is resolved can be fairly difficult and interesting."

As the backlash and negative reaction from several city officials to Grawey's story became evident and hindered the ties that Grawey once held with those officials, he knew his decision to incorporate both sides came with the territory of being a reporter.

"I think most reporters I've worked with believe the ethical solution is to present the story in a balanced and fair way and if the price of that is offending one of the sources, they accept that as the necessity of the situation," Anfinson said.

In addition to lack of cooperation from the mayor and some of the council members, Grawey was also expecting harassment due to the fallout, and was extremely careful when traveling in Rogers, Minn.

"I knew I was going to be harassed at some point, I was just waiting for it," Grawey said. "Sure enough I was harassed by the city of Rogers' police. They knew which way I was coming to the council meetings. They were waiting for me and pulled me over. The officer told me someone had called in a complaint about a car like the one I was driving and told them where to find me. It was an obvious attempt to harass me. Nothing happened out of that."

While Grawey now has full access to information from city officials and new relationships have formed with present council members and a new mayor, getting to that point was not easy.

"Even though you know the information and know the answers, you have to have somebody else's' voice giving you those answers," Grawey said. "You have to make sure you don't just look for people that will tell you the answers you are looking for. I don't think you have to give all the answers, I think that you have to give all sides from people."

Although Eitel and Przybilla no longer hold their former positions in the city of Rogers, Minn., Grawey continues to write for the Star News with the same mind set he honed when covering the story about the two former city officials.

"You really have to stick with it and follow with what you know is right. You can't be concerned with how people will react because your primary goal is to connect the community," Grawey said. "I think I have a lot of respect for the community."

Eddie Myers doesn't regret the choice his family made.

He would know. He witnessed it first hand. He was there on April 5th when a casket was carried off a plane at the Dover Air Force base in Delaware. The casket, draped with a star spangled banner and carried with care by an Air Force honor guard, contained his son Phillip.

For the first time in 18 years, the media also witnessed it. The arrival of the body of Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers to the Dover Air Force Base was the first time that media photography of a "dignified transfer" was allowed since 1991.

Since the invention of photography, the American media has ambitiously used it to publicize the news of our nation's wars. Without fail, controversy ensues.

In the American Civil War, photographer Matthew Brady employed a team of men to go out into the battlefield and snap (a drastic understatement of the process) pictures of the unfolding battle. Today, many experts deduce that Brady manipulated his photos, positioning dead soldiers in dramatic and artful poses.

In the two World Wars, American journalists sent home pictures from overseas, documenting the progress of the war. However, there was meticulous government censorship imposed on these photos, and many believe that it significantly influenced the public perception of the war.

In Vietnam, the unprecedented access by journalists and powerful raw video and photography gave America an unfiltered look into the nature of war. It tipped the verdict in the court of public opinion against our military's involvement.

In 1991, President George H. W. Bush issued a ruling that banned photography at the Dover Air Force Base, which is the first waypoint on American soil of the journey home of every U.S. soldier killed overseas. The formal ceremony, known as a "dignified transfer," involves the unloading of the caskets from the Air Force transport plane.

In a cover story for News Media & Law, attorney Grant Penrod, a then Legal Fellow for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said "The Pentagon's ban on media coverage of the coffins brought to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware looks to many journalists like an effort to control reporting that might bring a negative image to war."

However, in February of 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates reviewed and reversed the policy, saying that the families of the fallen soldiers will be given the option of whether or not to allow media coverage of the ceremony. The family of Staff Sgt. Myers gave permission to the media to photograph his dignified transfer on April 5th, the media's first in 18 years.

Joshua Roberts, a freelance photographer on assignment for Reuters, was one of the dozens of photographers and journalists covering the historic ceremony.

"This is the first time we are seeing it in 18 years and this is a major story," he said. "We are fighting wars in two different parts of the world, and people are dying and nobody ever sees. You know about the consequences, but this is one of the official bodies coming home. This really happened. U.S. soldiers are dying overseas."

Eddie Myers said "I think that the media being there is a good thing. They need to see that there are bodies coming back. I don't necessarily disagree with the war, but I think America needs to see that we're losing people."

Roberts said "(The photography) is showing the consequences of a political decision. Our political leaders have made a decision to be fighting a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its shows the consequences of that decision."

He went on to say that "It also shows the deep respect that the military accords one of their members that have been killed in combat."

"It was called a "dignified transfer." And that is exactly what it ended up being," said Myers. "It was very precise. Properly orchestrated. Very good. It was very special to the family members."

Roberts said "whether (the media) is there or not, there is still going to be the same welcoming committee."

Myers said that the final consent was given by Sgt. Myers' wife Aimee. "She wanted America to see that we have bodies coming back, that not everybody is coming home safely."

In the court of public opinion, the jury is still out regarding the ethics and rights of the media in this situation. The families of our fallen heroes have been handed the judge's gavel. As of the end of April, 19 families have been faced with this decision. 14 have consented to media coverage.

There's always an instance that changes the way a community looks at itself

"Things like this don't happen in Little Falls," said Curt Hanson, the vice president for donor services at the Initiative Foundation in Little Falls, told the Morrison County Record. "It makes us sound like other places we read about."

While the incident started to unfold inside the Government Center's walls, no one outside of them knew what was going on.

Karla Montag had no idea what was going on until she and her coworkers, who worked at Hands of Hope in the Historic Courthouse right next to the Government Center, noticed large crowds of people leaving.

"My father, Duane Johnson, is a county commissioner and I saw him outside in the crowd. I called my mother to see if he had called her to tell her anything, but he hadn't," Montag said, "He must have called shortly after I called her because a couple minutes later she called me back to tell me what he had told her. That's when I knew what was going on."

The rest of Little Falls wasn't as up to date as Montag. They didn't have the family ties to the building like she did. So when helicopters from WCCO and other TV news stations started circling the air space above the Government Center, that's when the public started to grow concerned.

One of the first places many went to find information was to the Morrison County Record's website. But when they got there, no information was to be found.

"We didn't know what was true and what was a rumor, so we went to work verifying before any information went up," said Morrison County Record editor Terry Lerhke.

It wasn't a matter of having no or little information. It came down to sorting out what was indeed factual and what was rumor flying from mouth to mouth.

"The area the Morrison County Record covers is a relatively small community. Little Falls is an even smaller town within this already small community, meaning everyone already knows what's going on," said Morrison County Record reporter Matt Perkins.

It was a tough choice for Lerhke to make. Calls from concerned citizens kept the phones off the hook.

"We had to keep telling them the same thing. We told them what we did know, what was indeed fact and verified by the police, but after that, we were in the same boat as they were," Lerhke said.

Despite the uproar from residents wanting information and wanting it right away, Lerhke stuck by her decision to only post online what information had already been verified by at least one source, if not more.

"Sometimes, it felt like everyone knew what was going on, except us, the newspaper covering the story," said Lerhke. "The difference is we wanted the facts, not gossip."

The first online update went up about two hours after Wheeler took the board room and its member's hostage.

Ironically, the Morrison County Record had a reporter inside the board room covering the county meeting when Wheeler pulled the gun out. According to the article the Record printed days after the incident happened, Wheeler told Kyle Kuphal, the paper's reporter to run.

"Kyle (Kuphal) became our eyes and ears of that room while he was there," said Lerhke. "He was physically in the room so he saw what happened first hand."

Along with Kuphals' account of what happened and the accounts of those who were also held hostage, the Record was able to piece together how the situation unfolded itself.

At approximately 10:22 a.m., the police department received a phone call that a gunman was holding members of a commissioner's board meeting hostage, according to the short update the Record put up online.

Wheeler walked in midway through the county commissioner's board meeting, clutching a manila envelope in his hands. He sat down quietly while the rest of the meeting resumed. But when the meeting was called to adjourn, Wheeler muttered something inaudibly, and proceeded to pull a red handkerchief from his overalls from which he extracted a handgun. He demanded certain people stay while letting the others in the room go, Kuphal among them.

Despite having more than one account for the details of this information, Lerhke made the decision to keep the detailing of the online updates to a minimum.

"There's always a question of how much information do we give,' said Lerhke. "Given how tense this situation was growing, we decided to say what needed to be said, and nothing more than that for the time being."

The situation was far from over at this point in time. The hostage situation needed to be taken care of. When Sheriff Michael Wetzel arrived on the scene and saw Wheeler aggressively pointing his gun at the hostages through the windowed window of the board room, plans to storm the room were put into action.

According to an article of reflection on the police's action from this incident in the Morrison County Record, Wetzel made the decision to enter the room, and the lieutenant and another officer on the scene would follow him in single file. The officers wore soft body armor, which they wear on a regular basis.

In the timeline of events, this is where Lerhke felt verification of the facts was needed the most.

"I heard so many different takes on what happened from everyone around me, I'm not sure I even knew what was really happening," said Lerhke.

Once Wetzel entered the room, Wheeler ducked behind the board room desk, and quickly came back up with only his head and gun visible -- the gun pointed directly at Wetzel and his two men.

According to an article Kuphal wrote the day after the incident, there was an exchange of words between Wheeler and Wetzel. Wetzel asked Wheeler to put his gun down, but he refused. Wheeler than continued to tell Wetzel to go away or he was going to shoot someone.

An unnamed source also in Kuphal's article made the statement that Wheeler "became increasingly agitated as more law enforcement officers became visible."

After another officer asked Wheeler to put his weapon down for a second time and again he refused, the police converged on the board room. As police entered the room, they yelled for the hostages to "get down and get out" said Kuphals' source.

The entire elapsed time of the incident was 15 - 20 seconds. In that time, two shots grazed Wheeler's head and another five hit his back.

The Morrison County Record would not run any of these details until they had verified everything they had with more than one source, whether it was the smallest of details or highly crucial. It did not go to print without verification.

After all the facts were gathered, it all became clear. Twenty shots were fired in all. Several of the shots that hit Wheeler's back actually hit him in the side. It was determined Wetzel took the first shot in self defense and Wheeler was taken to St. Gabriel's Hospital in Little Falls, where he later died. However, this information was printed in an article reflecting on Wetzel's' actions three months after the incident happened.

Lerhke faced a lot of criticism from the public for not running a full length in depth story of what happened concerning the shooting right away.

"I felt it was necessary to check everything out before posting it online, in print, or wherever it was going to run," said Lerhke. "The citizens are the first ones we report for, the paper second, but we have to have the concrete evidence in order to walk that fine line, otherwise we're putting the newspaper in jeopardy."

Criticism also came when Kuphal's article was run. According to Lerhke, the complaints had to deal with how trustworthy the story could be if one of their own reporters was the source. How could they know if they Record wasn't shaping their views to hide something?

According to Perkins, reporters do not write to please the reader. They're writing to inform the reader.

"Wheeler had been clashing with the county commissioner's board for some time. The public has the right to know that as much as anything else," Perkins said. "Now, I had talked to Wheeler before his involvement in this situation and he was always very kind to me, but I can't let that sway me from the facts."

When it comes to a time of crisis, it's often the media the public turns to in finding the information they're seeking. September 11, 2001 is a prime example of how important the media became to the public. Upon hearing the news of two planes crashing into the Twin Towers, the next place everyone found themselves was in front of a TV set or surfing the Internet. The media had a responsibility that day to the public, and that was keeping the people informed of every happening of the day's events.

Truthfulness is a key to journalism, but what is truthfulness without verification. "The journalist's process of verification becomes a hallmark to adherence to a truthful account to the news and is covered under the heading of truthfulness" says Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in "The Elements of Journalism".

It's not just truthful reporting that points a reporter on their way.

"It's also your morals," said Morrison County Record reporter Tina Snell. "You need to be able to look yourself in the mirror at the end of the day."

University of Minnesota Duluth star running back Isaac Odim had just rushed for four touchdowns in leading the Bulldogs to a semifinal win and first-ever berth into the Division II national championship, when Duluth News Tribune Staff Writer Jana Hollingsworth was sent up to campus to cover the historic season.

As she strolled around campus, Hollingsworth was overhearing that Odim - one of the top Division II running backs in the country - was a level three sex offender, for some actions he was involved with a few years back.

After hearing about these comments and receiving the criminal report on Odim, Hollingsworth quickly returned downtown to the Duluth News Tribune office and told executive editor Rob Karwath about the breaking news.

A major ethical decision was then on the table for Karwath, in deciding whether or not the Duluth News Tribune should run an article about Odim's past history or just save the story for the end of the season.

Karwath ran the article the next day, causing a stir in the Duluth community.

"It was definitely one of the toughest decisions I've ever had to make, because I knew it was going to look like we were hammering UMD," said Karwath, who has been the executive editor at the Duluth News Tribune for roughly four-and-a-half years. "But with a set of crummy circumstances, I think we made the decision that needed to be made."

The article was headlined "UMD star convicted of sex crime in 2007," as it explained how Odim was charged in Olmsted County - in southeast Minnesota - with two counts of felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct and one gross misdemeanor count of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct for an incident involving two intoxicated women that he knew.

Hollingsworth wrote the article and knew exactly what she had to do.

"I was surprised that we hadn't heard anything about it before, but I do what I got to do," said Hollingsworth, who has been a staff writer for the Duluth News Tribune for almost three years now. "We knew people were going to think that we were jerks, but we just couldn't sit on it."

And when the story hit the newsstands, it didn't settle well at all.

"I remember the day of practice when everyone was talking about it and everyone was saying 'what the heck,'" said UMD junior nose guard Tim Rahkola about the article on his teammate. "Not many people work harder than Isaac, whether it's on the field or in the classroom. It was like a hit below the belt and like the Duluth News Tribune came up here and slapped him."

Fellow Duluth News Tribune Staff Writer Jon Nowacki - who was the beat reporter for the Bulldogs during the season - didn't write a word in the article; however, helped out with a few football facts and remembers the community's reaction clearly.

"I received a ton of angry emails just like Jana," said Nowacki, who has been covering sports at the Duluth News Tribune for over 10 years now. "Isaac is one of the nicest and most well spoken players I've ever talked to. But you can definitely burn some bridges when you write a story like that."

Duluth News Tribune Sports Editor Rick Lubbers agrees.

"These stories aren't fun and all of sudden the world halts," said Lubbers, who has been working at the Duluth News Tribune for nearly three years. "People thought we were going out to get UMD, but that's not the case at all. We believed the story was newsworthy and needed to be out there."

Bulldog freshman defensive back Ryan Lindstrom has other thoughts.

"It was just stupid. It seemed like the Duluth News Tribune was trying to cause a distraction," said Lindstrom about the article on his teammate. "What already happened already happened. Isaac has paid his dues and works hard, just look at his numbers. I just didn't understand why they ran it when they did."

But the UMD Statesman - a university ran newspaper publication that goes out once a week - took a little bit of a different path on Odim's situation and decided to hold off on running the article during the team's best season in the more than 75-year history of the program.

It was Statesman Editor in Chief Ted Norgaard that heard about the situation first, as one morning he found a hand written letter underneath the door of the Statesman office. The letter briefly explained the problem on hand and after getting a hold of the criminal report, Norgaard was forced into the same situation as Karwath - to either run it or hold off on it.

Norgaard distinctly remembers making the decision to hold off on the article.

"I wanted to make it news, but it was just a really bad situation," said Norgaard, who immediately talked to UMD Athletic Director and head football coach Bob Nielson about the issue. "It was just interesting stuff, but at the time, we didn't want to run it and look like we were taking UMD down."

Much like the Duluth News Tribune after making tons of calls and talking with handfuls of people, it was Norgaard that realized in the end, that the news value of the story just wasn't there at the time.

"If we would have found out about it earlier, we would have ran it for sure," said Norgaard who has been working at the Statesman for three years now. "But we got this information at playoff time. The news value just wasn't there and it didn't way against the consequences of publishing the story."

But Norgaard, who ultimately made the final decision in the end for the Statesman, thinks back to his decision making from time to time.

"It was a really tough decision, definitely one of the tougher ones," he said. "But if I could do it all over again, I would have ran it."

Just like the Duluth News Tribune did.

And though the Duluth News Tribune's article caused a ruckus in the local community, as well as with many players and fans, there is one Bulldog lover that thought the journalist's downtown did the right thing in running the article on UMD's all-star tailback.

"I thought the article was very informational and I didn't have a problem with it at all," said UMD senior football guru Lance Allison, who has tried to make every Bulldog home game since starting college. "I think they handled it to their readers' best interests and they reported the facts. I didn't see it as a problem at all."

Karwath feels the same.

"I still think to this day that setting the record straight was the right decision," he said. "We quickly knew what it was and what it wasn't and when you wait on reporting, things just don't get any better."

But when it comes down to it, it was the timing that cost the Duluth News Tribune most.

"I wish the timing on this was different, but once we heard it, we knew we had to check it out as soon as possible," Karwath said. "It was tough for us, and the debate goes on."

With the help of Odim in the backfield, the Bulldogs ended up cruising to the national championship title with a victory over Northwest Missouri State the following weekend, but Karwath was right when talking about the controversial article on Odim - the debate goes on.

The night of April 9th, 1990 was the last time a Duluth police officer was killed in the line of duty. Dennis Anderson, anchor at WDIO-TV, was a few minutes into the ten o'clock newscast when a panicked producer ran into the studio and told Anderson "two police officers were just involved in a shooting."

What was Anderson to do? Should he continue with the newscast and wait until the facts were verified, or tell the northland what had just happened?

"It was a quick decision on my part, but it was my job to tell my viewers what was happening," said Anderson in an interview.

Dennis ran into the newsroom during commercial break and jotted down what he heard on the police scanner.

"I knew that when police officers put on their uniforms each day they take a risk of losing their lives, so after I had the facts I decided to tell the northland," said Anderson.

This question of ethics is something that journalists need to be careful of.

"Lots of things are reported on the police scanner that turn out to be untrue. What officers say on the police radio is not journalism," said Carol Knopes in a phone interview, the Director of Education Projects at The Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA).

Dennis Anderson told the northland what was happening every second, he was telling folks what he was hearing on the police scanner. In Anderson's book he explains that that

it isn't his usual policy to grab information right off the scanner and put it on the air, but this was absolute. He said that he could hear the excitement in their voices, and this wasn't a 'maybe' event, but it was the real thing.

"It is okay to tell viewers what is going on, but journalists need to be careful if they start to reveal names," said Knopes from RTNDA.

Anderson wasn't revealing any names, but keeping viewers informed and updated on what was happening at the scene.

"We shouldn't report the raw early conversation we hear, because our job is to report the truth," said Steve Goodspeed, News Director at WDIO-TV.

Ray Higgins, the WDIO sports anchor at the time and Karen Sunderman, a member of the news staff both rushed to the scene and it wasn't long before they were live and reporting back and forth with Anderson in the studio.

"That is the first thing we do when we hear something major over the scanner, we send someone out. We send them out, not to just get video footage, but to verify our facts," said Goodspeed.

From the Poynter Institute, Bob Steele's tip sheet on Ways to Approach Ethical Decision-
Making it helps a journalist decide how to deal with certain situations by going through a check list. Anderson's decision would be considered a gut reaction, filled with emotions. Anderson has some good reasoning because he had verified his facts, and minutes after the incident happened there were reporters on the scene.

Even though journalists have the temptation to tell people what is happening, ethically their job is to seek the truth and report it. The facts need to be verified, because in the end the journalist doesn't want to be the one apologizing for making a mistake.

Anderson said that one of the competitors had revealed on the night of April 9th that officer Wilson had been killed, which was false. Officer Wilson didn't die until the morning of April 10th, around 8:30 am. If journalists are going to be taking the risk to inform viewers, like Anderson did, they have to be correct.

When comparing the Duluth News Tribune newspaper, they were articulate when printing their facts. When newspapers were distributed on April 10th, there was a picture on the front page with little description on what had actually happened, and then the story was pushed back to 6A. It was April 11th, when they published a full article on what happened from beginning to end, mostly dedicated to Sgt. Wilson, because he had died the day before. The newspaper took 36 more hours to work on the project.

"There have been many ethical situations that I have gotten myself into right before airtime, and it is always hard to decide what to say to my viewers," said Anderson.

On November 10, 1975 the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald sank, he heard the news from a phone call from a Duluth woman. He called the Coast Guard at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to confirm his facts and thirty minutes later he was going live on the air with a news bulletin. He was verifying facts and telling the viewers what he was hearing. He was the first journalist to break the story.

"Even though all journalists want to be the first one to break a story, we need to be willing to not be first but to get the story right," said Goodspeed.

Also, the night of December 1, 1993, about thirty minutes till airtime, Minnesota's worst plane crash happened. Anderson took a call from a lady that said there was a plane down but not sure what type. Anderson made a phone call to the FAA control tower at Duluth's International Airport and confirmed that a plane was down. Fifteen minutes before air time Anderson gathered some facts and learned that the flight crashed and killed every passenger on board. Anderson knew that the first thing to do was get someone to the scene so he could have some facts verified, and then he told the northland what was happening.

"It isn't bad to tell our viewers what is happening, our viewers want to be continuously updated. Legally we can say what we hear on the scanner, but do we want to be known for doing that?" said Goodspeed.

Goodspeed explained that it always depends on what the situation is, when deciding to make a story out of what they are hearing over the police scanner. If there was a house fire they wouldn't report on it right away, but if there was a fire at a large corporation that would be something that they would probably tell their viewers.

The thousands of northland viewers all enjoy to become informed as soon as an incident has happened. People of the northland know Dennis Anderson as a legend and expert when dealing with broadcast journalism.

"When it was over, I never received any criticism for what I decided to tell the northland about Sgt. Wilson," said Anderson.

A 19-year-old girl ran for her life to the neighbor's house after an argument with her boyfriend that sent him chasing after her with a handgun.

The argument flared. Her boyfriend left the room only to come back with a .357 magnum handgun. He knew that it was hidden her father's dresser.

Seeing him come back into the room with the magnum in hand, she ran out the backdoor in terror and fear. She ran as fast as she could through the cold snow that was still left on the ground to the neighbor's house.

She never made it.

The boyfriend went after her, shooting wildly in her direction. Two bullets lodged near the roof of the siding of the neighbor's house. The other bullet lodged directly into her back. She dropped to the ground instantly.

Some neighbors heard the shots from inside their house. One neighbor, looking out their window, saw her drop to the ground. That's when they called the police.

After she was shot, her boyfriend walked back into the house, only to stay there until police arrived at the scene.

As soon as the police arrived, her boyfriend came out of the front door yelling, "Shoot me! Shoot me! I killed her!"

The rest of the normal proceedings happened. Other ambulance and police arrived, and the boyfriend was arrested.

As soon as the boyfriend was arrested and the crime scene was tapped up around the body that looked to be simply lying in the snow, officials tried to get a hold of her family.

Finally arriving to their home, the family decided to stay at the neighbor's house, the house she was running to. Except for her mother.

The police could not get a hold of her mother. They thought she might have been out shopping for the day.

Scott Stowell, an electronic newsgathering photographer for Madison T.V. station, was on the scene when the mother arrived.

Be the time her mother arrived, the body had been taken away, crime scene was tapped up, there was reddish orangey markings used to outline the body in the snow, and everyone had cleared out. All the neighbors went back into their homes.

Stowell had a hard time packing up his gear and so was taking a longer time in leaving. When as he was leaving in his car, he noticed the mother coming home.

Her parent's house was located in a residential area, on a corner. It was a T-shaped corner.

Stowell was just going up the corner and about to turn left at the T, when a van from the right stopped at the stop sign. Stowell looked through his windshield and noticed there was a woman in the van.

By the look on her face, she had noticed something had happened at her house. With a look of irritation on her face with what was going on, she continued driving to her home.

Stowell waited at the stop sign for the woman to turn in front of him. He had a sense that there might be something there.

After seeing the mother turn towards her house, Stowell turned his car around. He pulled up to her house just moments after her mother did.

When her mother pulled up, it took what felt like a long while for everything to happen and sink in.

Soon her husband and other kids came pouring out of the neighbor's house crying and full of emotion. Except for her daughter.

That's when her family told her about what happened just moments before.

Standing outside, they didn't go anywhere for a while. They all stayed in the yard hugging each other with deep emotion and mass shock.

While sitting in his car, Stowell got on his radio and dialed his news director.

At this point, Stowell knew he had the perfect photograph. He had the time to get his gear back together and take a picture of the mother's state of shock when she found out the horrible news of her daughter, but did he take the photo?

This situation is what T.V. stations and news crews call that "once-in-a-lifetime" shot.

Many photographers would take the photo, no questions asked, that conveys exactly what the mother's feeling as soon as she finds out her daughter has been shot and killed. Others would not.

James Vesley, editor of the Sacramento Union, claims that photos convey something an article cannot.

"The impact of a single, black and white photo prominently displayed can last in the community's conscience long after the news has moved onto other events," he wrote in his article entitled Bring death close.

Vesley is an activist for publishing such emotional and shocking photographs. Photo can bring an event to an emotional pitch, according to Vesley. The photo is the story.

"Even if the community and, sadly, the family are offended by the photo, we reason the greater offense is to withhold the news," he wrote.

One editor swore he would never cross the line that would force him to invade someone's grief, after having his own grief invaded by prying press coverage of a fire that took the lives of his grandmother, aunt and three cousins. However, when it came down to him deciding to publish a photo that conveyed that same emotion years later, he published it.

"There was not any real doubt in my mind that we should use the picture. We had to. Without a single word, that photo captured the heart and soul of the story in terms that anyone could understand; grief screamed out at us in black and white, grabbing each one of us by the heart," Charles Wilson, managing editor of Rushville Republican, wrote in his article Seeing both sides.

According to Wilson, the deciding factor to publish the photo was due to the photo telling a story without any words; what it was supposed to do; however, that was not the deciding factor.

"The deciding factor had nothing to do with the quality of the photograph; it was a moral decision," he wrote.

Wilson's morals and ethics changed as soon as he was in position to publish a photo that conveyed just emotion that he had been angry at years before.

A person's ethics will be ever changing and evolving as you go along in life, according to Stowell, the photographer at the murder scene of Jane Doe.

"Your ethics will never stop evolving. You're going to change your mind; you're going to take another road. Your ethical behaviors will constantly evolve," he said.

After watching the girl's father and siblings race to the mother, who had no idea of what happened just moments before, Stowell had the opportunity to get what many call that perfect photograph.

Stowell, still sitting in his car, got on his radio and called back to his news director.

Stowell was told to not take the photo.