Thursday, June 23, 2011

Honoring promises, keeping relationships

Today was stressful. One of my sources for the assignment backed out. He asked me not to publish anything online directly quoting him. He said that he would explain in person when I got back and cut our last conversation short. I didn't know what to think or do and this created an acid pit in my stomach.

I felt like my story needed his quotes and I didn't have a back up plan, at least not for this. Time was running out and I had no idea how to adjust. I reached out to my team members, editors and mentors in an effort to make a decision.

Should I publish the quotes anyway because he had already given me permission and risk the relationship or honor his request?

What would you have done?

I pulled the quotes and hoped that my other two sources would be enough. I chose the relationship over the content and my stomach is already feeling much better.

Angelique McClain
Dixie Hollins High School
St. Petersburg, Fla.




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2 comments:

  1. AmberJune 23, 2011 at 9:23 PM

    I'm sorry you had to deal with this unfortunate predicament. It sounds like you made the right decision and you won't have to live with any regrets. I'm sure your story is just fine as it is. =)

    Amber Lineweaver
    Clayton Valley High
    Concord CA

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  2. JoAnn AugustineJune 26, 2011 at 9:07 AM

    I think I would go with the relationship too. However, if the story had the potential to uncover important wrongdoing, I would struggle more with the decision. Still, even in that case you need to maintain your sources for another time, and tomorrow's story might be even hotter than today's.

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