Ethics Questions 1

News Value: knowing if public officials are taking bribes is highly news worthy. They are people who are supposed to be serving our community and doing so ethically, if they are not the public will want to know about it. 

Concerns: There is a line between getting the information for a story and going too far. Making up an entire bar to test the limits of the police, is a far stretch to go to. 

Consequences: Police officers and building inspectors will be angry when they discover that they have been deceived. 

Alternatives: Finding another way to interview an ex-police officer who cant lose his job, or find a witness of these crimes, some way to prove what has been going on without creating this undercover operation.

Explanation: the journalist wouldnt be violating any aspects of libel, but it is deception. Its an ethical issue, not a legal issue. it is legal