K
KiRby
Guest
The man was at work and refused to talk. At the home, a young boy answered the door and, when Hughes explained who he was and what he wanted, the boy said: “I was there, too. I saw it.”
Hughes got the boy’s story, and his editor instructed him to wait for the father to come home, to see if he would corroborate it once he knew his son had talked to a reporter. When the man arrived, he still refused to talk, but Hughes said he did not object to the reporter’s conversation with his son.
Kantor hadn't been planning to quote any of the kids at all, even with permission, but apparently what she did is much worse, because she should have asked first, and she asked questions about "private lives," i.e. which school Cindy McCain's kid attends. Hughes was merely talking to a 12-year-old about.... police sodomy at a subway station, which is, I guess, less gossipy or something, and thus OK.Hughes got the boy’s story, and his editor instructed him to wait for the father to come home, to see if he would corroborate it once he knew his son had talked to a reporter. When the man arrived, he still refused to talk, but Hughes said he did not object to the reporter’s conversation with his son.
Choire Sicha writes that it's "ridiculous" that reporters shouldn't be able to "carefully and appropriately Facebook with minors." Indeed! Particularly as the newspaper now requires questions like where a particular kid goes to school to be routed through ONE GUY before they can even be asked of a minor. You just know that's going to be an issue in a deadline situation.