Don't you love the German language? The way there is a single word for things that require a sentence or two in other languages.
One of my favorites of these is Schadenfreude -- literally, joy at misfortune. In practice, joy at the misfortune of others.
Oh, come on, we all feel it occasionally.
The Society of Professional Journalists newly revised Code of Ethics calls on us to "expose unethical conduct in journalism, including within their organization."
That part can be tough. We relish (oh, admit it) exposing unethical conduct in someone not within our organization. But one of our own?
We gotta do it.
I stumbled across a breech of ethics once. Totally by accident. My grandfather was ill, so I was driving back and forth from Hackettstown to Staten Island whenever I could. I would stay over at my Aunt's house. One night I couldn't sleep so I went hunting for some reading material. I found a Redbook magazine. On Monday morning, I picked up a copy of our paper and saw a story by one of reporters that had some very familiar statistics in it. Worded exactly the same way. I told my editor and called my aunt from his office, since I didn't remember the date of the issue. I did remember the cover and she found it. The editor went up to the town library to check it out. He fired the reporter as soon as he got back. She smirked at told him she was quitting anyway because she'd been offered a better job. Naturally, the editor called her new employer.
Karma can be a bitch.
It's not always that easy, but it's always that necessary.
Even when there are consequences.
Ouch
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