Consider the following ethics case: A photographer, in the course of trailing the First Family on vacation, catches a shot of the 17 year old daughter of the President, on the beach, kissing a young secret service agent. The photographer sells the picture to several large media outlets, including People magazine, the New York Daily News, News of the World, and Fox News. |
The next day the New York Daily News publishes this photograph on the front page under the headline: "Secret Service Sex Scandal". |
The same day Fox News headlines the photograph on their morning and evening news shows with the leader "White House Scandal" and with the closing question "Can a President who can't teach morals to his own daughter be a true moral leader for our nation?" |
The next week the photograph appears on the cover of People Magazine with the headline: "No Longer Sweet Sixteen: The Prez' Daughter Makes Out". The supporting article publishes the names of all of the boys the daughter is known to have dated, with a sidebar chronology of her dates and sidebar interviews of several of her dates. |
Six months later the News of the World publishes a substantially retouched version of the picture that shows the Presidents daughter kissing an "Alien" (as from outer space) with the headline "PREZ' DAUGHTER PREGNANT WITH ALIEN' BABY" with a supporting article that talks about government secrecy about aliens at Area 51, and purports that the picture was taken on the beach in Nevada. |
Finally: |