Thus, the media hunted for items, building a case against Hatfill, in essence creating news rather than reporting it. Better balanced could have been easily provided by giving Hatfill and the FBI investigators more voice. In order to prevent this from happening again, guidelines could be put into place. The first guideline would be to conduct an independent investigation into all details, including those gleaned from other news outlets. It should not be assumed that other news outlets are providing coverage of the highest integrity. Indeed, this guideline flows from the code of ethics: "expose unethical practices of journalists and news media."

Another guideline that could be implemented is that the outlet should not "create" news by digging up items of conjecture regarding the subject, but should rather report the findings of official investigations. In this case, this would involve reporting the FBI's official announcements on the issue.

If I was the editor of the paper, I would run the story. However, I would have more fully vetted the story and provided more balance to the coverage. That the FBI was investigating Hatfill was fact, but the coverage resulted in a number of distortions. I would like not have reported on Hatfill's name until it was officially confirmed by the...

This would deal with two of the main issues in this case -- that only Hatfill was named and that the tip came from a source whose motivations are unknown. The coverage in my paper would be guided more by official announcements from the investigators rather than anonymous postings on the Internet or the shoddy work of other media outlets.
The Hatfill story was newsworthy, so the story would need to be run. In doing so, however, the editor must resist the temptation to follow the sensationalistic path of the other media outlets. Only verified facts should be presented, and the primary source of details on the investigation should have been the FBI. If details were scarce, then that scarcity is what would be reported, rather than conjecture or unverified information. Balancing facts would need to be implemented, including the fact that Hatfill was just one of many scientists to be investigated and that he was part of a very long list of persons of interest, rather than a primary person of interest. In doing this, I would as editor be able to provide coverage while staying within the bounds of the code of ethics.

Works Cited:

Code of Ethics. (1996) Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved September 29, 2009 from http://www.spj.org/pdf/ethicscode.pdf