By Todd C. Frankel
St. Louis-Post Dispatch
Published: 1/22/2007
Excerpt:
Franklin County authorities plan to investigate this week how a
newspaper managed two jailhouse interviews with accused kidnapper
Michael Devlin, despite an apparent ban on such visits. Devlin's
attorney claims that the reporter gained access only by posing as a
friend.
Devlin, 41, sat for two 15-minute interviews over the weekend with the
New York Post, which reported Sunday that Devlin talked about his
day-to-day life but refused to discuss matters related to the case. He
noted that his own parents, who live not far away in Webster Groves,
have not visited him since his arrest earlier this month. ...
... The pizzeria manager is accused of taking 13-year-old Ben Ownby just
after the boy got off a school bus Jan. 8 in rural Franklin County.
Authorities found Ben and Shawn Hornbeck on Jan. 12 at Devlin's
apartment. Shawn, now 15, had been missing since 2002 from Richwoods.
Devlin's attorney Michael Kielty said the
New York Post reporter gained
access to Devlin only through deception. The reporter visited the jail
and signed a visitor's log noting she was "a friend," never identifying
herself as a member of the media, Kielty said. She then told Devlin she
"was just a local college student interested in the case," Kielty said. ...
...
Bob Steele, a professor of journalism ethics at The Poynter Institute,
a journalism research and educational organization in St. Petersburg,
Fla., said, "Deception in this case does not in any way seem justified." ...
... Steele added: "When a journalist uses inappropriate deception it
tarnishes all of journalism and makes the job of all journalists more
difficult."
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