Parent well: Be hard but honest, forceful but fair

I received an e-mail this morning from Dave Rinehart, a former high-school writer for The Spokesman-Review’s Our Generation section (see immediately below). In answering his question about journalistic ethics, I offered up this reply:

Sure, Dave, I remember you. It’s good to hear that you’re doing so well.

Ethical issues are, no surprise, something that all journalists have to deal with. And they encompass a range of areas, as the problems that New York Times writers covering the war in Iraq have demonstrated (where are those damn WMDs, anyway?). But critics face a few specific ones.

The main one probably is compensation. Do you accept anything from the filmmaker, producer, distributor or publicist in return for everything from attendance at previews to actual booty in the form of free hotel rooms, food and drink, etc.?

At The Spokesman-Review we’re had a fairly strict policy over the years: no freebies. If we can’t afford to pay our own way, we don’t go. I pay for my own tickets and then get reimbursed by the paper. Most of what I spend to cover film festivals such as Sundance comes out of my own pocket.

The only exceptions over 22 years involved two films that were shot in Spokane or close by: Steven Spielberg’s 1989 film “Always” and the 1993 project “Benny & Joon,” In both those cases, my editor at the time allowed me to go on the “junkets,” which involved flying to L.A., being put up in a hotel, getting a screening of the film, attending a roving press conference with the film principals (from Spielberg and Holly Hunter on the one, to Johnny Depp and Mary Stuart Masterson on the other).

I’m sure that whoever arranged the access for me hoped that I would write something positive. And the fact is that I was kind, at least in terms of “Benny & Joon.” But that wasn’t because of any obligation that I felt to the filmmakers.

It was, instead, because I’ve always strived to write thoughtful reviews for the readers, hoping that in the process they would be more willing to listen to what I have to say, positive and negative. In both instances, “Always” and “Benny & Joon,” I was honest but fair – as opposed to, say, my recent column on “The Cutter,” where I was honest but biting.

I think the key is this: The filmmakers themselves hope that you’ll like what they do. But the best of them want you to be honest, even if that means pointing out their failures.

My policy, which I explain to publicists, has always been this: I’ll do whatever I can in terms of interviewing and writing advance feature stories to help draw attention to a project. But when I look at something critically, I say what I think. And so far that has served me well.

Because my duty is not to them but to my readers. So I’ve tried to develop a style that is readable, intelligent and yet direct, one that invites readers to think instead of simply dismiss my writing as just another bit either of fluff or artistic assassination .

Everything else you’re bound to face can be solved pretty much by using simple common sense. If you think that there’s an ethical problem, then there probably is.

Good luck, Dave. I hope this helps you. If you need anything else, feel free to write me. Or call.

- Dan

Below: Johnny Depp, star of the shot-in-Spokane film “Benny & Joon,” smoked all through the junket interview that he gave with co-star Mary Stuart Masterson.

AP photo