HP spying creates journalist dilemma

SAN FRANCISCO – Hewlett-Packard Co.’s intrusion into the private lives of 10 journalists has created an ethical dilemma for their bosses as they weigh whether well-connected reporters should be allowed to cover the scandal despite possible conflicts of interest.

The approaches have varied among the five news organisations employing the reporters whose personal phone records and Social Security numbers were obtained by HP as part of a covert scheme that may result in criminal charges. Some of the affected reporters aren’t being permitted to write about HP at all while at least one has been to dig up more details about a corporate soap opera that has attracted intense news coverage for the past month.”The default position in something like this is that there is a conflict of interest and the reporters shouldn’t cover the story,” said James Bettinger, director of the Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists at Stanford University.”But there is also a high value to getting the complete story and getting it out to the reader.And if you take some of these reporters off the story, you lose their institutional knowledge,” he said.To further complicate the decision, some of the reporters may have legal claims against HP for prying into their personal affairs.Both CNet Networks Inc.and The Associated Press have temporarily removed reporters from the HP beat after concluding their objectivity could be compromised by the company’s invasive tactics.CNet’s decision affects three reporters – Dawn Kawamoto, Tom Krazit and Stephen Shankland.AP has reassigned Rachel Konrad, who is married to Shankland and was covering the scandal before learning that HP’s investigators had obtained her phone records and Social Security number.”I wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict presented by her reporting on a possibly illegal investigation that may have targeted her family,” said John Raess, chief of AP’s San Francisco bureau.The affected CNet and AP reporters have continued to provide information to other reporters writing about the scandal.The New York Times also is not allowing another targeted reporter, John Markoff, to write about the scandal, but that will not prevent him from writing about other topics affecting the company, said Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty.BusinessWeek magazine has assigned one of its top technology reporters, Peter Burrows, to write about the imbroglio’s fallout so its readers can benefit from his insights and contacts.Nampa-APSome of the affected reporters aren’t being permitted to write about HP at all while at least one has been to dig up more details about a corporate soap opera that has attracted intense news coverage for the past month.”The default position in something like this is that there is a conflict of interest and the reporters shouldn’t cover the story,” said James Bettinger, director of the Knight Fellowships for Professional Journalists at Stanford University.”But there is also a high value to getting the complete story and getting it out to the reader.And if you take some of these reporters off the story, you lose their institutional knowledge,” he said.To further complicate the decision, some of the reporters may have legal claims against HP for prying into their personal affairs.Both CNet Networks Inc.and The Associated Press have temporarily removed reporters from the HP beat after concluding their objectivity could be compromised by the company’s invasive tactics.CNet’s decision affects three reporters – Dawn Kawamoto, Tom Krazit and Stephen Shankland.AP has reassigned Rachel Konrad, who is married to Shankland and was covering the scandal before learning that HP’s investigators had obtained her phone records and Social Security number.”I wanted to avoid any appearance of a conflict presented by her reporting on a possibly illegal investigation that may have targeted her family,” said John Raess, chief of AP’s San Francisco bureau.The affected CNet and AP reporters have continued to provide information to other reporters writing about the scandal.The New York Times also is not allowing another targeted reporter, John Markoff, to write about the scandal, but that will not prevent him from writing about other topics affecting the company, said Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty.BusinessWeek magazine has assigned one of its top technology reporters, Peter Burrows, to write about the imbroglio’s fallout so its readers can benefit from his insights and contacts.Nampa-AP