McBride: Political Rumors Deserve Investigation

“If [Gov. David Patterson] behaved in a way that brought shame to his office, then he should be subject to that information being exposed to the public and suffer the consequences for his actions. If his behavior tainted his official duties, then that is even more egregious. However, is it fair for him to have to fight off rumors about his behavior? Kelly McBride, the ethics team leader at the Poynter Institute, said there’s not a black or white answer to this question in an interview with Aol. Black Voices.

” ‘A better question when it comes to rumors about the behavior of public officials is what is your journalistic responsibility. It is your absolute journalistic responsibility to investigate rumors, because there are plenty examples of the untoward behavior of public officials affecting them acting in their official capacity. Actually, it would be journalist malpractice to ignore rumors,’ said McBride.

“Even reporting about the rumors of an impending story is not out of bounds because of the nature of today’s media landscape. For example, said McBride, it might make sense for a gossip columnist, media columnist or blogger to report about the rumor of a devastating story that is about to be published. A traditional news organization may approach the topic differently. ‘There is a long distance between a rumor and news story, and the journalist has the obligation to verify facts,’ said McBride. ‘Even within that there is a responsible way to present the facts that have been verified, so the audience can make own judgments.’ “