Sophia Boyer doesn't look as sick as she is. On a good day, the
1-year-old crawls laps around the family room, cheerfully keeping up
with her older sisters, Abigail, 3, and Tatum, 2.
You would never know that Sophia's liver is attacking itself.
Her parents, Laura and Brian Boyer of Depoe Bay, Ore., are doing
everything they can think of to raise money for their daughter's liver
transplant. They have plastered coastal communities with fliers and put
labeled boxes at cash registers to collect coins. They're also
enlisting newspapers, television and radio.
Cases such as Sophia's raise a number of ethical questions. What about
the scores of children nationwide needing expensive medical care whose
parents don't have access to the media, business owners or potential
contributors? Or teenagers who aren't as photogenic as Sophia? Or
adults with no one to plead their case? ...
...
Kelly McBride, an ethicist at the Poynter Institute, says it might be
more fair for a newspaper to run every story and limit each to the same
short length, say 8 inches. She doesn't, however, know of any newspaper
that has such a policy.
"If you do this, you negate some of the effectiveness, but you've
traded one harm for another," she says. "You've traded the unfairness
of the day's news for a system that will at least give everyone access."
Bob Steele, another ethicist on the Poynter staff, cautions that
fundraising is not the first obligation of a news organization. "We
might include that in a story, but I don't believe we have an
obligation to be a clearinghouse for these type of fundraisers," he
says.
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