What would you have chosen to do as a journalist in this situation? Because this case study is intended primarily as a teaching resource, a password is required to view the epilogue. The purpose is to encourage readers to pause and think about how they would resolve the difficulty, before learning  how the journalist(s) involved […]

Like Purdon and Palleja, Houston KHOU reporter Brandi Smith had to decide whether to intervene in a story and call the authorities. Smith was in the middle of a live television hit chronicling the city’s flooding following Hurricane Harvey when she came across a partially submerged tractor trailer. Smith, standing on a bridge, narrated the […]

When CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper was covering Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he was on the ground in New Orleans, immersed in a tragedy that continued to unfold right in front of him. “There are times when it’s impossible; you’re a human being as well, and to see some of the things that many of us […]

CBC does not have specific guidelines for filming vulnerable subjects. Enkin says that there is policy surrounding grief and suffering that is meant to cover people who have endured trauma and may not be in the best position to make a decision. The policy cautions that a journalist must be respectful and not exploit a […]

In addition to the question of whether to call the authorities, Purdon and Palleja had another choice to make: should they interview Mohamed? Was he in the right state of mind to consent to an interview? Shapiro says that Purdon and Palleja were facing a clear dilemma in this regard: Read the transcript   Shapiro […]

Journalists witness the world around them. Unlike the average citizen, their work often requires them to be detached from what they see and to report dispassionately on the issues they cover. A failure to do so would compromise their role as an independent agent and potentially change the course of a story. If journalists are […]

In 2016, the Canada Border Services Agency recorded 6,960 people had walked across the Canada-U.S. border to claim asylum status. In 2017, an unprecedented 10,515 asylum seekers walked from the U.S. into Canada. For those seeking refuge in the dead of winter, conditions can be extreme. CBC News reported that, in December 2016, a Ghanaian […]