Questions for Bill Morlin

1. Being a student at Washington State University, a school closely located to Spokane, I have covered the Jim West scandal in nearly every communication class. In my ethics class, we discussed whether the investigative reporting done by the Spokesman-Review (and inherently, yourself) was ethical. Looking back, would you have done anything differently?

2. Do you really believe that the Jim West story was a need to know or a want to know? Especially considering that the FBI never found any information indicating that he was abusing his office. And he was never linked the the sexual abuse scandal in the 70s.

3. Where do you draw the line in investigative journalism? Arguably, Mayor Jim West's reputation was severely tarnished, does selling a newspaper come at the expense of other people's lives?

4. Do you believe it is the role to watchdog government's, corporations and society? Is this where journalism is headed or has it always been this way?

5. Why you do find investigative journalism important in today's society?

6. Why do you think the Polygimist sect went unchecked for so long? It wasn't until teenagers started giving birth that people started paying attention. Wouldn't the idea of polygamy be taboo enough to catch society's attention?

7. Or, is it that it's too taboo for today's readers? We'd rather that the topic just not exist at all and it wasn't until a more socially accepted taboo was exposed that we began to look at the larger picture? Is this the role of investigate journalists? Find one piece of a story and use it as a tool to expose a larger trend?