Jackass!

No, this won't be about Johnny Knoxville and his crazy antics.  In fact, it's about the most powerful man in the world.

In a pre-interview, off the record pleasantries, President Barack Obama said Kanye West was a "Jackass" after John Harwood of CNBC asked him what he thought why Kanye West climbed up to the stage, grabbed the mic from Taylor Swift, and dissed her after she won an award at the MTV-VMA Music Awards.

The comment was heard through an audio line by Terry Moran of CNBC's rival ABC, who immediately twitted the private conversation.  Over a million twitters and followers of Moran's blog "Nightline" received the twit.  The twit was taken down after an hour, but has now found its way back into the net and is now in the net to stay.

Apparently, CNBC and ABC shared the same transmission lines, which led to Moran's hearing and recording of the comment.

ABC was quick to apologize for the unethical conduct of its reporter after they realized that the comment was off the record.  In ABC's apology, they said they were sorry because the broadcasting of the comment (which I believe was obtained through unauthorized eavesdropping) did not pass through their editorial process.  

Despite the apology however, the damage has been done.

I've long been harping about the effects of technology on ethics in journalism.  In fact, in my paper about the right of reply, I asserted that because of technology, ethichs in journalism must be revisited.  The still widespread practice of jump before you look in journalism can produce detrimental results.  The practice of coming out with an incomplete story can be very damaging, especially in our day and age when technology makes it possible to broadcast everything in real time.  As a result, I believe that the journalism industry must establish concrete policies regarding situations like this, and police its own ranks.  If not, government might be compelled to step in, and this is the last thing journalists would want to happen.

While it is true that everyone must be wary and be able to own up to every word they utter, one must, public officer or not, be still accorded his sphere of privacy.  An off the record comment is precisely just that - off the record.

Good for Obama his sentiments are shared by a majority of Americans.  It would have been disastrous if it was the other way around.