After the article is published in The Pluralist, the mining company pushes back with a public declaration, contesting some of the findings of the article.
This has hit Aditya Swaroop’s reputation because he trusted unreliable sources. Nevertheless, he is confident about the illegal activities of the mining company; he wants to redeem himself. He approaches Zubin with a request to go back to the mining company project to find new sources and rewrite an article with reliable pieces of evidence. Though his fresh investigation will require time and money, it might also enhance the reputation of the newspaper.
Zubin respects Aditya Swaroop and wants his reputation to be restored. However, Zubin is confident that continuing to work on the mining company project will not yield any results.
Which of the following actions by Zubin will BEST enable Aditya Swaroop to enhance his diminishing reputation?
Answer: C
Stakeholders and criterion: Zubin wants Aditya Swaroop's reputation restored, but he believes the mining story will yield nothing more. The best action rebuilds the journalist's reputation in the way journalists earn it, through fresh, strong investigative work, without wasting money on a dead end.
Why option 3 is best: a new investigative project shows Zubin's continued faith in him. It also gives him the chance to produce credible work that restores his name, and it moves him off the unproductive mining story.
- Option 1: working anonymously hides his work. An anonymous byline cannot rebuild a public reputation.
- Option 2: Zubin thinks the mining project is fruitless, so handing it to a new team wastes resources. A consulting role also does little for Aditya's standing.
- Option 4: telling him to start a YouTube channel effectively pushes him out of the newspaper. His current fame comes from the controversy, not credibility.
- Option 5: taking him off investigative work looks like a demotion and gives him no chance to prove himself.
Answer: Option 3