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Journalism Ethics: The Global Debate
rings lure young women from their
hometowns with the promise of a
good job in a more developed country.
Their passports and all their money
are taken, and they are forced to work
as prostitutes in a strange country,
kept in miserable conditions and
threatened with violence if they try to
escape or tell anyone about their
situation.
In order to report on the sensitive
subject, Smith needs to talk to the
victims themselves. He also contends
that he needs to misrepresent himself
to the women and their handlers; at
least initially, he must pretend to be a
client.
In many cases, merely talking to the
victims as a reporter puts their lives in
danger, as well as his own. Smith has
learned several lessons, some at the
expense of women who have talked to
him.
He remembers one case in particular.
He was working on a report, posing as
a client in an effort to interview victims.
He found himself alone in a dingy
brothel room with two Romanian
women, while a bouncer sat just
outside the door, listening. The
women started to kiss him, believing
him to be a Westerner looking for sex.
All three disrobed, Smith believing that
if the bouncer outside looked in and
saw the three clothed, he would get
suspicious.
Smith told the women (both of whom
spoke English) that he had a secret to
tell them, but that they must not tell
anyone. He told them that he was a
reporter and that he wanted to tell
their stories, without identifying them.
Telling their stories, he said, might
help other young women avoid their
fate.
One of the women told him that she
wanted his help in getting out of her
situation. The other said she, too,
wanted help, Smith said, but he
noticed that “she was acting strange.”
Smith interviewed the women and
stayed with them long enough that
those outside would believe they had
had sex. He left the room and spoke
to the men outside as if he had just
had a great experience. A middleman
(the one who arranged for Smith to
meet the prostitutes) drove him and
the two women back to the bar where
they had all met.
Preston Smith is still
haunted by the case of the
young Romanian woman who
likely paid a price he will
never know for giving him
her story.
On the way, the second woman told
the middleman that Smith was a
reporter. Smith, who understands
many Eastern European languages,
understood what she said. He heard
the middleman talking on a cell phone
to others, and realized that he was in
great danger. At the first opportunity,
he jumped out of the car.
Smith managed to find another
reporter he was working with, and the
two spent the night hiding in a rented
room. They got out of town the next
day.
International Center for Journalists