Everyday Ethics

Here in the Tarheel State, the Duke lacrosse team story is all the talk.

This writethru to an Associated Press story moved on the wires Wednesday morning:

Two Duke University lacrosse players were arrested on rape charges Tuesday in a scandal that has rocked one of America’s elite campuses and raised explosive questions of race, class and the privileged status of college athletes.

The two players are both graduates of all-boys Roman Catholic prep schools in the suburbs of New York City. District Attorney Mike Nifong said a third player could also be arrested but has yet to be firmly identified.

Those two paragraphs say a lot about why this story is hot: Race, class, regionalism, religion, politics. What more could a story need? This is the kind of story that quickly leaps into the national consciousness. Journalistically speaking, this is the kind of story that requires the most care.

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To that end, I have questions in three areas: First, why is the religious affiliation of the boys' prep school relevant to this story worthy of second paragraph play? What if they boys had attended a public school? Or what if they had attended a Presbyterian prep school? Would those have merited such high play?

I'm not a Roman Catholic, but if I were, I believe I'd view that as a gratuitous reference to my faith in a story that really has nothing to do with religion at all. Second, how does this matter qualify as a "scandal"? There is, so far as I know, no proof of any wrongdoing. If the charges are dropped or the accused are exonerated, is there a way to "unscandalize" the situation? Also, who decides whether something has reached "scandal" status or not?

At our paper, we faced this decision a few years back with an investigation into Gardner-Webb University and a decision made by the school president to change the school’s grading policy in a matter involving a star basketball player. The change meant the player became eligible to play basketball. The president eventually was forced to resign and the NCAA put Gardner-Webb on probation.

For weeks and weeks we resisted calling the matter a "scandal" despite huge campus protests, a faculty no-confidence vote and other protests. It was only after the president resigned that we used the s-word.

In the Duke matter, while there is some evidence of a pattern with the lacrosse team, I haven't heard enough to qualify this as a scandal. There are plenty of other questions about how this story is framed:
How are race and class REALLY relevant to this story?
Should the accuser be identified?
If she remains anonymous, how much detail should be revealed about her?

As far as ethics case studies go, this story seems to have it all. Let the debate begin.

Skip Foster is a former Poynter Ethics Fellow (class of '02). He is the editor of the Shelby Star in Shelby, NC.