Finally, after years of mediocrity, the USF women's basketball team is excellent. If they win tonight against Santa Clara in the tournament finals, the conference championship is theirs, and an NCAA berth is guaranteed.
It's 30 minutes to tipoff, and the locker room is about to be closed to reporters. You get a text from your mentor, who is on the Associated Press news desk. The mother of our star player has dropped dead from an apparent heart attack in the lobby of the hotel where she was staying. The star player is one of your best friends.
"A scoop for you," your mentor says. "We don't have a reporter covering the tournament so you are now our stringer. Get me something ASAP."
Face ashen and hands shaking, you enter the locker room as the other reporters file out. You scan the room for the star player. You lock eyes with the coach whom you also consider a mentor. She rushes over and pulls you aside, placing her body between you and the team.
"I see you know," she says. "She doesn't. This the biggest game in the history of USF women's basketball. That's what I told the team a minute ago to explain why I confiscated all the cellphones. We need her to play. She would want to even if she knew about her mom. I know that's what her mom would have wanted."
And then before you can think what to say, she spins you around and pushes you out of the locker room. The lock clicks shut.
You don't have to do a full Potter Box analysis. Identify your principal loyalties and which you think is most important
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16 comments:
Wow! What an ethical dilemma! I can't really imagine something like this happening, because well, nothing even close to it has ever happened to me. This sounds like an extremely difficult situation, and honestly I don't know how I would actually react unless I was in it. If we are referencing the Potter Box, it would depend on where my loyalties lie. To my friend, to USF, to the Associated Press? To be honest, I might not tell my friend, for the sake of utilitarianism. Which would mean my loyalties would not be to my friend, or getting the story for the associated press but to the university. There are definite outcomes to the star player doing well, and how much good would a story about this girl bring? Unless of course the story was released and somehow allowed a rematch I suppose. If my friends mom is already dead there is nothing she can do. It would be a completely different situation if my friends mom had just suffered a heart attack and was in the hospital potentially with her last moments of life. I would never want anyone to miss something like that. Interestingly enough, in real life my best friend's grandfather passed away on Sunday. Her brother is on a fishing trip and was coming back tonight (Monday night). I was with my friend while her mom and her decided it would be best to just wait to tell her brother when he is back so his trip won't be ruined, but then they run the risk of him being upset with them when they do tell him. I think a lot of people make these kinds of choices when there is a death. When my dog died during midterms, the first question my dad asked me before telling me was, do you have anything major going on this week? How are your classes? When I said I finished midterms he told me the news, but if I had a lot going on he was planning to wait till I had gotten home (it was a few days before spring break). So I don't think its necessary unethical to not to tell this friend. I would just run the risk of hurting that friendship. But I guess I'd be willing to sacrifice that for the greater good, and hope this friend would understand. This is not to say that my emotions might get in the way of my logic and I might end up telling her. Especially if this is my best friend, that means I might know the person who had died. If my real life best friend's mom died, I myself would be a mess, and may not be able to report on the game.
If my mom died and I was about to play an important game and I found out my best friend used that knowledge to write a story about me, you can bet on two things. One, I could not play, or win the game for that matter and two, that best friend is not a true friend of mine. You cannot, under any circumstances exploit someone who has experienced a tragedy like that for a story, that is BEYOND unethical on so many levels. I would say, however, you also have no right to tell her. You were pushed out of the locker room, what are you going to do now? Run out on the court and tell her about her mother then run off and leave? You cannot get involved in any part. I think the best way to handle the situation is to decide if you are her friend or you are the journalist covering the story (you have to detach yourself in that case to any emotion you have invested in your friend or her mom). If you are her friend you run on that court and you tell her and you get your car and drive her to the hospital and you help her through this time. If you are the journalist covering it, you stay quiet and wait for the situation to play out in silence and plead ignorance when your friend asked if you knew. You may lose a friend in the case you pick the latter but it is entirely where your loyalty lies and on a deeper level, you don't ever want to be the person who tells someone their mom died.
What I would do in this situation depends on where my loyalties lie. I wouldn't do a story on this, especially if she were my best friend, because that would be unethical in my eyes. If I were to run the story then I would have to be willing to risk that friendship. I'm not sure if I would necessarily tell my best friend the news right away because I wouldn't want to ruin a big night for her. However, if it were my mother I would want to know right away regardless of what I'm doing. You have to consider how you deal with this situation. Are you going to make your decisions as a friend or a a journalist? When it comes to telling your friend the news or not, now you have to decide what's in their best interest. It could be hard to be the bearer of bad news in the middle of a game but as her best friend you have to decide what would be the best for her. If you think this game is important to her then maybe withhold that information and wait to tell her until after the game. However, what is someone else told her first? Would you deny not knowing or admit that you knew the whole time? The whole situation is difficult but as I said before, it depends on where your loyalties lie.
This scenario is complex because the decision of the journalist directly effects people whether you decide to break the news to your friend or not. If the information is withheld, your best friend will be hurt and probably feel betrayed that a friend would withhold that information in order for the team to win. It is ethical to tell your friend her mother has passed because if you don't your friend will be deeply hurt and feel distrust. There may be players however hoping to win this game in order to get publicity and help get them more nation coverage. This win could help the school as a boost in the media, bringing more student applicants. The team may not win without the star. What is important to me, is the probability that lays within both of these outcomes. Disclosing the information, will indeed hurt your friend. Telling the information may or may not change the outcome of the championship. That is what is the deciding fact to me, the fact my friend would be hurt weighs heavier then the team dealing with a struggle. I believe in telling my friend, the loyalty to my friend's feelings outweighs the loyalty to basketball teams feelings of something with less sentimental value then a mother.
I feel like the way this situation plays out not only depends on the values of those involved, but their loyalties as well. I second the argument that knowing your best friend’s mom died and not telling her can lead to a broken friendship. I certainly wouldn’t want any of my friends keeping something like that from me even if I had a big commitment because for me family comes before anything else. Although I see where the difficulty would be in telling her because you could jeopardize the game for the her, team, and USF. The strongest objection I had to this scenario is the fact that the basketball coach assumed that the star player would want to play basketball in spite of her mom dying. I feel that the coach took away her right to choose which I feel is ethically wrong. At the end of the day it is the player’s decision of whether she wants to go forth in the game or not. Yes she would feel a great amount of pressure considering she is the best player, but what makes a team great isn’t the one person but rather the strength of the group as a whole. So in short, my loyalties lie with my best friend, the star player, who in this situation is the most important person. As far as the AP, I would not share any information or write a story about what happened. I would politely ask them to choose someone else as I would not feel comfortable writing such a delicate story about someone close to me.
I thought I had made my decision very quickly and confidently- to tell my friend about the death of her mother immediately. However, I back tracked and thought of how close this friend and I were. My answer depends on how good of a friendship this person and I had. If they were my best friend, I would without a doubt, tell my friend this devastating news before an event like this. My loyalties lie with them and the aftermath of what would happen to our friendship if they knew I kept this kind of news from them. I would find it hard to forgive my best friend if they didn't instantly tell me so I would do the same. On the other hand, if this friend and I were more acquaintances than best friends, I think it would be more likely for me to hold off on telling them. Then again if this friend and I weren't that close, perhaps I wouldn't be the one telling them. Though if I were, obviously my loyalties would lie to writing a lively story about the big game. Sure if this person knew that I knew and didn't tell them we wouldn't be friends anymore but it would cost me more to lose an opportunity to write an interesting story about the circumstances of the game than to lose a person I'm hardly close to.
It's better to be human than first.
I think I would have to go with Aristotle and try to find the "mean" in this situation. For the star basketball player friend, it's important that she play well during this game for her sports career in the long run, just like it would be important for my potential journalism career to break the story first. The mean here is telling your friend after the game before anyone else has a chance to, you can get the first scoop. What an article, the star player wins the big game the very same night her mother dies. If you can convince your friend of this angle then problem solved, but I admit that this option does run the risk of upsetting your friend. On the other hand, this option put the journalist's potential career at risk because the duration of the basketball game could give someone a chance to steal the scoop.
Oof, this is a hard one. Lets break up what each of the characters want. I want to break a big story and please my mentor who gave me a scoop. The coach wants their player to have their best game so they can win. But what about the player; what do they want? Probably the most difficult part of this puzzle is not knowing what the center of it all would like to have happen.
Looking at my own desire to break, I would err on the side of not trying to get back in the locker room. If I'm the one to tell her, then I'm putting myself in the story. By trying to report on the news, I would be making the news: "Star player finds out mom died at half time." I would feel like I was exploiting her tragedy, by breaking the news to her only so I could write about it. There's a difference between journalists covering victims of tragic losses and a journalist telling someone something tragic so you can record their reaction. I'm thinking of the East Bay times covering Ghost Ship, at the moment, for ethical reporting on tragedy.
Ultimately, I would keep that door locked, turn around, and start writing on the game with the angle that the star player's mom had died while she played an entire half of basketball. And you can bet I'd be the first reporter to talk to her when she stepped off the court.
I would think my top loyalty belongs to my best friend, the star player, to which I would feel obligated to tell her of her mother’s death. However, this situation is tricky because if I adhere to that loyalty, it may affect my best friend’s ability to perform, and thus the outcome of the game. At the same time, it might seem as if I was only telling her of the news because I wanted her reaction and the story. Because of this, I would not tell my best friend of her mother’s death yet. I would wait until after the game and tell her as a friend first. Then, if I thought she was ready, I would ask her if she wanted to make a statement on the record about her mother’s death and the championship game. I think that process would still lead to a good story and it would be achieved in an ethically proper way.
I think my loyalties lie with myself, my friend, and my mentor. I personally would have gone for the bigger story. No offense, but who cares about this girl's deceased mom and a basketball game, when a coach is actively taking phones away from players and hypothetically pushed me out of the locker room so I wouldn't give my friend condolences. At the end of the day, it almost feels like the ethical thing to expose the coach, even if it angers the school. The truth of the matter is, while the coach is a friend, they will not further my career the way my AP mentor will. In terms of my friendship I would not tell my friend about her mother's death, she deserves to find out from her family and have some time to process. Breaking the news to her before the most important game of the season is not just exploitative, it's cruel, and selfish. I would leave the room, watch the game, and wait to try to interview her when she is able and willing, if she ever is.
Although my main loyalties would lie to myself and my best friend/the star of the team, I don't think I would tell her until after the game. I think the main reason I would do this is because at some point the daughter is obviously going to find out her mother's dead, so I think for some reason in this situation I might think it is best for the daughter to have her glory moment on the court and then find out about her mother. While part of me thinks this seems cold, I can't help but wonder if the daughter finding out about her mother after the game would make much of a difference in the outcome of her reaction. I could either tell her before the game and she would be devastated and not play, and maybe then the team loses. Or, maybe I tell her after her game where she does play, and maybe because there is no emotional interruption, the team does well and the daughter feels a sense of accomplishment and success, which could make be a slight silver lining in the devastation of her mother's death. So, therefore I guess I see the situation as one that is completely bad and no good comes out of it for the girl whatsoever, or one that is still overwhelmingly overshadowed by the death, but at least there is still some pride and success knowing the girl herself got to take part in something big. With all of that being said, I think I would find it very hard to report on my friend's situation because my loyalties lie with her, and on principle I would think it only right to choose the comfort of my friend feeling secure and supported, rather than potentially exploited if I were to try and get a story out of her when something so tragic has just happened. As her friend I feel it would be my duty to support her and let someone else take the lucky journalism break by writing about her story. For me to write about it would seem out of place and inappropriate.
Oh dear. What a terrible situation to be stuck in. At first, I wanted to tell my friend (star player) about the news of her mother's death right away. I thought that was the most important, since she's my best friend. I thought that would be the most ethical on a personal level (caring about a friend). However, I thought a little more about it, and have decided that it would be better to tell the friend after the game. The mother would still be dead. I'd also apologize to my friend that I didn't tell her sooner, but it was in her best interest because her mom would have wanted her to play her best. Telling her the news before the game would have caused so much stress and distraction, at a time she's needed most. If i told her before, I'd definitely feel bad because I would make the whole entire team stress out.
Being a friend of a star player also means that I'd be less objective, which is not ideal for journalism. Therefore, I would try to report on the game alone and not delve into personal details I know about the player and her mom. I would also consider not reporting at all, seeing that there may be bias or conflict of interest. I think that's an ethical decision that prioritizes my own values, loyalty to my friend, and value as an objective journalist.
My main loyalty here lies with my friend. To lose a parent is a terrible tragedy and I think it is beyond unethical to exploit that. In regards to telling her or not, I think it would depend wholly on her personality. Maybe that's a get-out-of-jail-free card, but I do believe that different people handle situations differently, and I would want to make the choice that would be best for her. So maybe I would tell her before if it seemed like that was something she would want to know then and there. If I felt like winning the game was equally important to her, I would have a much harder time breaking that news to her. It's a wimpy answer, but I really think that the answer to that question is not one size fits all.
I would also feel some loyalty to the mentor, but not nearly enough to betray a friend. Maybe I would tell her about the coach taking the phones, but that's not the story she asked for, and I really would only be able to give that away if I felt like the rest of the story would not talk about my friend or the dead mother. I feel this way in part because it is wrong, but also because I don't feel like this story is a big get. I mean maybe if it were the last, tie-breaking game of the NCAA finals. But in this case, this isn't a story I see getting much attention so it wouldn't even benefit me much.
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