Media Ethics Expert Bob Steele '69 Weighs In on NBC/Death Penalty Controversy

December 26, 2005

December 26, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - Bob Steele, a media ethics expert at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and 1969 graduate of DePauw University, believes "a Dateline NBC producer, who wrote letters to two governors recommending leniency for a convict suspected of killing two area women, overstepped his boundaries as a journalist," according to a story in Texas' Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "Journalists should never become players in a story," Steele tells the newspaper. "Our job as journalists is to hold institutions and individuals accountable. Journalists should not be making deals with the same public officials we cover."

Nathaniel Jones writes, "Producer Shane Bishop wrote Gov. Rick Perry and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush last month saying he could get a confession from an Arkansas convict if the governors waived the death penalty in their states. Bishop said in the letters that he believes Michael Ronning killed Annette Melia, 20, of Arlington and Melissa Jackson, 16, of Grand Prairie during the 1980s."

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