Scenario 9: Impartiality
Your wife used to work for a major high-tech company. As a result, both of you own several thousand shares of stock in the company, which you plan to sell and use to help pay for your children's college tuition. Your oldest begins college next year. You are a business reporter for a national newspaper and that high-tech company has seen its share of problems and negative news coverage. Over recent months, it's had a high turnover of senior executives, two new presidents, and thousands of people have been fired, yet the company's board of directors and chief executive officer maintain the company's finances are solid. As a result, the company's stock value is plummeting. Common sense dictates that if the bad publicity would subside, the stock price would settle down, too. As a shareholder, you understand that mentality. Yet, as a business reporter, you know that you must report on the negative issues even if it hurts your wallet. Your wife has been pressuring you to soften your coverage of them.