The Poynter Institute’s Bob Steele, in an essay entitled “HP’s Glass-Housed Critics,” writes:
Journalists are not above using some forms of deception to get stories. We’ve long used our own form of sting operations. We’ve played private detective in ways that aren’t always so kosher. Sometimes we pretend to be someone other than a journalist. Sometimes we are just less than forthright as we gather and glean information.
True enough, and some of the things journalists have been doing lately — NBC News’ Internet stings come to mind — come to mind as especially rancid.
But let’s keep in mind what HP was doing. It was obtaining people’s private data, including phone records. In at least several cases it obtained and used social security numbers to further its spying.
This doesn’t excuse unethical behavior by anyone. But HP’s transgressions exceed most of the ones we’ve heard about by journalists.