Poynter on the Record

Bob Steele sides with the rules, too. In fact, Steele, the Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values at the Poynter Institute, wrote the rules 12 years ago to help reporters decide when it might be all right to lie or to use a hidden camera to get a story.

Steele read the Harper's piece and wrote a rather open-ended column about it for the Poynter Web site that gave Silverstein his say. Two months after writing the column Steele, like Wasserman and other prominent ethicists in the field, is carefully reviewing the steps Silverstein took in his newsgathering rather than issuing a blanket condemnation.

Some, like Mark Feldstein, a former investigative reporter who has written extensively on journalism ethics as a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, have applauded Silverstein's product while questioning his methods. Feldstein was impressed by the heft of what Silverstein presented, an unsettling look at deal-making and political compromising. Still, Feldstein is disapproving of the misrepresentation and found it unforgivable for him to withhold the opportunity for some comment from APCO and Cassidy.

Steele has not said whether he thinks Silverstein acted improperly. "I wanted to leave it open-ended," he says. "I know there are absolutists out there who say you don't ever use this method to get a story. I've never been absolutist on deception. The beauty and bane of ethics is that there are exceptions. I'm not one who believes in universal codes of ethics."

To understand why Steele and others resist the absolutes, walk Silverstein's Turkmenistan story through the six guidelines or thresholds Steele says a journalist must satisfy to deceive or to misrepresent. According to Steele, it's OK to be deceptive only:

• When the information obtained is of profound importance. It must be of vital public interest, such as revealing great system failure at the top levels, or it must prevent profound harm to individuals.

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