A case of crossing the line for a story1

When, where, and why should we cross the line as journalists? This story is about the episode of one reporter when Cuban detainees were setting fires and holding hostages. The reporter spent more than 11 days in front of the prison fence but he couldn’t access the list of hostage. In the newsroom office, there was big debate of this weather fence jumping or not. Some of staff thought they were just an enterprising public service, and some thought that it was dangerous or invasive. The next day, when reporter arrived that spot, there was big smoke rising from the back of the prison. The big secret was behind of the wall.
Therefore, the reporter climbed over the chest-high fence. He has no press ID and just dressed in shirt and tie so he looks like a family of the hostage. On a wall in the hallway there’s a sheet with 99 signatures. The reporter intended to remember all the names of the list with their number. Also, he tried to find out who hasn’t signed yet. When the reporter tried to finds out the information he met a prison official guard. The officer didn’t recognized he was a reporter, so he got a list and left the house safely. The next morning, they published the list and using a number which contained a list! He memorized that moment with the some words “If you’re asked directly who you are, say you are a reporter, but you don’t have to volunteer it. Don’t engage any family members in conversation; we’ll do our interviewing outside the prison.”
This story gives us think about ‘what is the journalist means?’ and also ‘we can cross the line just because we are journalist?’ In the readings that we have done on conflicts of interest, many different situations have been brought up, and just as there is no clear answer to what objectivity really means, there is no clear answer on how to handle these situations. I believe that it’s not bad things to pretend to somebody or not tell who am I when a journalist get a resource. Because sometimes it makes situation more easier than just make sure ‘I’m the journalist and I want to know about every detail!’
First of all, the goal of journalists is making a better society by giving lots of information to viewer. Mass media play a significant role in shaping public perceptions on a variety of important issues, both through the information that is dispensed through them, and through the interpretations they place upon this information. When the journalist select or portray about some situation, it magnify a common topic between society members. At last, what they carry on their newspaper can be translated as a beliefs, values, traditions on their society! I believe that this means that although the journalist deceive the prison officer, but eventually he carried really important topic to their viewers and makes more clear society.