Outing of Anti-Gay Pastor Draws Criticism
By Elizabeth Jensen, New York Times
The reaction was swift when Lavender Magazine, a biweekly for Minneapolis’s gay and lesbian community, reported in its current issue that an outspokenly anti-homosexual local pastor attended a support group for people who want to remain chaste despite same-sex attraction.
The pastor, Tom Brock, was put on leave from North Minneapolis’ Hope Lutheran, pending an investigation. The magazine, meanwhile is embroiled in a journalism ethics debate for sending its reporter undercover into the confidential support group.
[.....] The story, he (Stephen Rocheford from Lavender Magazine) added, “was legitimate, it was legal, and we did it punctiliously with ethical and legal considerations.”
Many journalism ethicists disagree. Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said outing “remains quite controversial” and the bar for hiding one’s identity to get a story has been set progressively higher. “You put the two together and you violate a self-help group and it’s hard to find solid ground to stand on,” he said.
Jane Kirtley, Silha Professor of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota, said she believes “these kinds of deceptive techniques should only be used for the most important stories that cannot be obtained any other way.”
She said that readers or viewers might conclude that “If you lied to get the story then why should I believe that the rest of this story is true?”
Father Paul Check, the international director of Courage, said that the reporter “lied” to gain admittance, and that, “as far as I know this is the most grievous breach of our trust and confidentiality in our 27 years of existence.”
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