The Outing of Jim West: External Links

These background materials will help you make your decision about the ethics of the Spokane Spokesman-Review’s undercover investigation and subsequent report on Spokane’s mayor Jim West. Below is a complete list of the external links to the articles and interviews. The full text of these articles is also available on this site.

The Series of Stories
This package of stories will be passed on to the judges, but first you determine whether or not it was produced ethically. Of course, we expect you to read the complete series, with special attention to the role of the undercover forensic computer expert who posed as an 18-year-old boy.

West tied to sex abuse in '70s, using office to lure young men – May 5, 2005
West's public policy conflicts with private life – May 5, 2005
Interview with Robert J. Galliher* – conducted April 20, 2005, ran May 18, 2005
Interview with Michael Grant*– conducted April 26, 2005, ran May 18, 2005
West has brought new tone, new success to City Hall, May 5, 2005
After the initial stories, more stories continue over months as Mayor West refuses to leave office and a case is built against. Finally voters take action through a recall vote, marked by this story: Voters recall West – December 7, 2005
In 2006, the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) ran Frontline: A Hidden Life, a documentary which provides further insight into the case.

An Overview of the Ethical Issue
After the story broke, the Spokesman Review got national attention, much of it debating whether or not it acted ethically in using an undercover forensic agent to pose as an 18 year old boy on the Internet.

Overview of the issue that ran in the Spokesman Review: Story generates national attention – May 13, 2005
The paper’s justification for using the undercover forensic computer expert: Online relationships – May 5, 2005

The Ethical Critiques
What the editorials said; see full list or selected list below:

Spokane Spokesman-Review Explanation
Editor Steve Smith explains the Spokesman-Review's actions, including using an undercover forensic computer expert posing as a 17-year-old boy.

Columbia Journalism Review: Steve Smith on Exposing a Mayor
Editor & Publisher: Spokane Paper Hired Expert to Monitor Mayor Online -- from editor and publisher.
Spokane Spokesman-Review: Timing of West story had to wait on facts – May 8, 2005. Steve Smith writes: "The Spokesman-Review has a credibility problem. I don’t like it. I challenge it; I fight it. But I can’t simply snap my fingers and make it go away."
PjNet.org: Mayor Sex Story: Award Winner or Ethical Mess? Was the Spokane Spokesman-Review's investigative reporting, which revealed Spokane Mayor Jim West was trolling for male teenage sex on the Internet, ethically flawed or good journalism? In an IM Interview, Leonard Witt of PJNet, gets Spokesman-Review editor Steve Smith's side of the story.
Spokesman Review Online Chat with Steve Smith – May 9, 2005. Smith answers questions from Spokesman Review readers about papers decision on the Jim West investigation.

In Defense of the Spokesman-Review
Newspaper articles, blogs and in comments several voices defended the actions of the Spokesman- Review in using an undercover forensic computer expert posing as a 17-year-old

The Editor’s Log: Never Say Never – John Robinson, editor of the Greensboro (NC) News & Record writes in part at his blog: “Should a newspaper go undercover to get a story? No, say editors. Yes, say readers. There is, of course, a long history of it.”
Letters were written at Romenesko, but archive doesn’t go back to May 2005.

Ethics Codes
Here is a plethora of journalism codes of ethics at the Editor & Publisher website including the Society of Professional Journalist’s ethic code which editor Steve Smith uses as a reference for his actions.

Interesting stuff, this ethics. Want to know more? Turn to the Poynter’s Media Ethics Bibliography.