St. Louis On The Air

Should the news media have published a story about Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ extramarital affair and his alleged blackmail of a woman? On Friday’s Behind the Headlines segment, St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh discussed journalism ethics and the process of reporting the affair with Lauren Trager, KMOV’s investigative reporter who broke the story , and with Shula Neuman, St. Louis Public Radio’s executive editor. The two journalists talked about their varying approaches. Neuman said St. Louis Public Radio decided not to go forward with a story on the affair, partly because the organization did not have on-the-record sources. “If the woman wasn’t willing to tell the story herself, then we didn’t think that it was appropriate to let somebody else tell the story for her ,” Neuman said. The unnamed woman made off-the-record remarks to Trager about the affair. KMOV also concealed the identity of the woman’s ex-husband to protect her identity. Trager said KMOV decided to publish its