Lesson 2 Reading Summary: Divergence of Duty

Reading Summary 2:

Jeff Neal, Sept. 12, 2013

Reference: Hindman, Elizabeth Blanks (1999), Divergence of Duty: Difference in legal and Ethical Responsibilities. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, vol.14 issue 4, p213

Theme: Although law and ethics intertwine and often share vocabulary, they are different.  

Summary:

·         The ATF was investigating the Davidians, a religious group known as the Branch Davidians, for  possession of weapons and potential gun law violations. The Davidians lived on a 70 acre compound in Waco Texas. The ATF (Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) planned and set a target date for the arrest of Koresh and search of the compound.

·         In addition the Waco Tribune-Herald newspaper was investigating Koresh the Davidians' leader and planned a seven-part series, discussing allegations of child sexual abuse and concerns that authorities were doing nothing.

·         On February 28, 1993 the ATF raided the compound and a shootout between the Davidians and agents from the ATF began.  When it was over, four federal agents and a number of Davidians dead, and more wounded. The standoff lasted 51 days.  Over this time more than 75 Davidians  and ATF agents were killed, and more were wounded.

·         Hindman stated that the shootout began a series of legal and ethical discussions about the local media's role in the initial shootout, culminating in an SPJ Waco Task Force report and over 100 lawsuits--later combined into a single case--claiming the media's negligence caused the injuries and deaths of the ATF agents.

·         ATF and Tribune-Herald officials of Waco met many times to discuss what was happening.  The ATF requested that the media delay their publication and TV series several times over the 51 days, but the media refused to delay the publication.  The media reviled when the raids would take place, and other important information about the ATFD activities.  The release of the information was being watched by the Davidians which gave them all the information they needed to prepare for the ATF raid.

·         The ATF argued that the Medias release of information about the raid caused the death and injury to the agents in the raid. The law at issue in this case is of negligence, "failure to exercise that degree of care which a person of ordinary prudence would exercise under the same circumstances".

Application to the lesson topic: The media can act within the law but not act ethically.   This article addresses what cause the shooting in Waco Texas, in 1993. The media played a major role in what happens.  They did not break the law but acted unethically and their actions which caused harm and contributed to the agents and Davidians that were shoot that day.  The media violated their ethical duty to minimize harm.  The AFT should have controlled what they released to the media and done a better job of maintain security of information.

Application to emergency services: It's important that we remember that the media has a different objective when they respond to an incident.  They are there to get a good story.  They will at times do whatever necessary to accomplish their goal.  We can control this by keeping a secure scene and establishing a perimeter around the scene allowing only emergency service personnel in the area.  Since the new Hipaa act of 1996 was established, it is even more important that we use care in what is told to the media. The hipaa act prevents emergency responders from sharing personal information of patients and gives us the right to withhold information about patients.