Fabricating Sources in Daily News

For part one of my final assignment, I chose the scenario where I am the chief editor of a large metropolitan daily newspaper and one of my reporters is caught fabricating sources and making up facts.  This is a very controversial scenario for any major news outlet because it threatens the credibility of the entire organization, risking critical lashings and the loss of revenue and readers/viewers.  It is this organizations job to provide accurate and honest news to the public and I think taking a risk by covering up or ignoring this situation is a very poor choice to make.  If I were the chief editor, I would be honest with my readers and inform them of the inaccuracies in the news provided by that particular reporter.  Essentially, we must apologize and take acceptance for the mistakes being made, but also make it very clear that the responsible party has been outed and relieved of his duties of reporting for that organization. 

I believe readers will respect and appreciate the honesty provided.  If you simply ignore or cover up the mistakes that have been made, you make the entire organization appear crooked, rather than the one person that fabricated and falsified information to the public.  You acknowledge what happened, who was responsible, the result of their actions, the actions that your organization has taken, and you print the retractions that are necessary to report.  You can't work your way around the issue and if you try to, you are taking a major risk that could cause you even more backlash and ruin the reputation you have built with your loyal readers. 

Not only does this organization have an ethical and social responsibility to the public to provide accurate and credible information, they have to abide by the law when it comes to reporting news.  Not addressing the fabrications and falsifications made by a particular reporting, you risk having legal action taken against you by the public and the people directly associated with the news...