The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Josh Renaud was searching the Missouri Department of Education's webpage code for data on public teacher certification when he recognized that it included Social Security numbers.
The paper alerted the education department and held its story until the agency fixed the problem. Renaud's reward was to hear the governor say he could face prosecution and a lawsuit.
Did Renaud do the right thing and should other journalists think twice before doing something similar?
That's one question we consider on this episode of Up to Date. The other involves media coverage of Gabby Petito's disappearance — a national story that raised concerns about why Black women who are reported missing don't get the same level of coverage.
What should be done about racial bias in reporting?
We examine both of these cases to highlight what went right and what went wrong and what journalists can learn from both.
- Patricia Weems Gaston, Lacy Haynes Professor of Journalism in the William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas
- Brett Johnson, associate professor, journalism studies, University of Missouri
