I think the first step for this reporting work is the fact checking. What is this website? Does the website just look like the public describe? Dose the professor really visit the website as a client? Maybe there is another person who has the same name with the professor usually visit this website. Pornography, a sensational topic, which needs reporters to treat it more seriously than other stories. Before the reporting work, the reporters must keep in mind how enormous influences it will generate on our society. Unlike the general persons, the English professor holds a respectful and higher social status. Their words and behaviors usually have leading and instructing functions. Child Pornography is really a stiff and critical topic in media area, once you complete the reporting work that means the key roles of this scandal are utterly discredited. In addition, there will be also a public debates about this kind of corruption. For the professor, I think he will be more serious on this issue than anyone. If this is a mendacious reporting, it is undoubted he will use the legal means to protect his profits. “Journalist—and the organization they work for—can be held responsible for libelous statements they make.” This is the words recited from <
If the fact is correct, the professor is really a client for the child pornography website. New problems come out. Do we need to make a direct link to this website? As a reporter I will select not to link to the child pornography website.
Firstly, let’s assume this website is a legal one. On one hand, although linking seems like a harmless function, most websites use linking to provide their users more comprehensive information. The legal issues usually resolve around copyright and unfair competition. If you link your website directly to a commercial website and its businesses web pages without permission. You may face the copy right lawsuit. The pornography website may let you remove the link no matter it is a deep, inline or associative link. Since as the commercial website, they own the copyright for their content. Even though for most cases, the courts usually use a less restrictive standard to evaluate such violation. But for journalists, it is better for them to treat it conscientiously.
One the other hand, “linking can present difficult ethical issues for an online journalist. These issues generally center on whether presenting links promote a noxious point of view or muddies the separation between journalistic and advertising functions”( recited from<< Foust>>. We just put our attention on the first part of this principle. If we take this point into consideration, definitely, the child pornography will not allow you to link your reporting to their website since you angle is negative, your reporting will generate terrible influence on the website. The public may hold terrible impression about this website, and the government may make more restrictive measures to constrain its development since the website has already forms terrible effect on the whole society.
Secondly, let’s assume the child pornography website is illegal. If this is the case, it is obviously necessary for us to avoid linking the reporting directly to the website. United States courts have said that the First Amendment offers no protection for links to illegal or infringing content. As I described above, all contents on the child pornography website are illegal. Moreover, these illegal pornography videos and images may exert heavy influence on the young’s psychological health. More rape and sexual crimes are induced from them. The government has more serious restrictions on such websites. As a Journalist, you must be responsible for the whole society. If you link the reporting works directly to that website without any social influence considerations. You and your organization may face serious penalty from the government, even though you are not the operator for that website.
Last but not least, as a reporter, it is the basic requirement to follow the principles for journalism. On this event, I think the best way to do the reporting work is to find the appropriate platforms on the internet and select the reasonable links. Firstly, we can use the forum organized by news organization to arouse the public’s attention, and let the public to express their opinions on this event. According to Communication Decency Act, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” We can utilize this platform to let the public get deep understanding about this event. It is up to the public to get the link to that website, if they attach the links in their discussion, no one will be blamed. For links, if I want to use the website link, I just give the name of this website and do not provide links to that website. I will also place my main attention to associative links which show the public the former cases of celebrities’ sexual scandal like this event. Only in this way can we achieve the balance in the conflict between the reality and the social morals.
