I thought college was when we stopped playing April’s Fools jokes with our journalism. This is a story I heard this past weekend on NPR’s “On the Media,” a show I like and respect (http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2008/10/24/06). The topic was al-Qaeda supporting John McCain for president. The story was true, but OTM presented it through a fake interview with a fake person from a fake organization — without telling listeners until the end (assuming we heard the disclaimer). In the transcript, notice how the joke was hinted at with “quote marks” around the interview subject’s name. If only we could have seen those “quotes” through the airwaves.

The idea of letting reporters sit in on executive sessions to make sure government discussions are above board fascinates me, as does the state’s attempt to define a journalist — but neither is the reason I’m posting this story (http://www.lakeoswegoreview.com/news/story.php?story_id=122350594289231700).

I like Lee van der Doo’s simple, straightforward explanation of her possible connection to the issue she’s covering and how she’s trying to avoid a conflict. This is a good example of having readers’ interests in mind and keeping them informed.

Journalists are observers and chroniclers, not participants, when they cover news. So it seems like a poor choice for a radio news reporter to wear a T-shirt in support of Sen. Barack Obama while covering an Obama rally, as described in this Detroit News story (http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081002/METRO/810020448). The reporter lost her job. The station’s director of programming said the T-shirt compromised the news operation’s objectivity.