There’s no doubt that your approach to a story may change in the process of reporting it, but do you need to let the people you’re covering know that, too?
For me, this question was raised by a little brouhaha involving a student journalist and her professor at UNC-Chapel Hill. The reporter, Carla Babb, did a story that the John Edwards’ campaign didn’t much like. The story focused on the fact that Edwards had set up his campaign headquarters in a very affluent part of Chapel Hill, N.C., and it included sound bites from the editor of the UNC paper who questioned that decision by a presidential candidate who says he’s an advocate for the poor.
When the story appeared on YouTube, someone from the campaign called both the reporter and her instructor, Dr. C.A. “Charlie” Tuggle. Here’s a quote from the AP story about the incident:
The Edwards campaign complained to Tuggle, he said, that the student had not disclosed the angle of the story and had asked for access to do a feature on a student who was interning for the campaign.
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