The sordid tale makes you want to avert your eyes. There is a terminally ill wife grappling with her husband’s public confession of an affair. How that tugs at your heart strings!  But, you find you cannot avert your eyes because there are the journalism ethics questions, “How come The National Enquirer beat the major news sources to the story by almost nine months? And why was it ignored until photos forced a confession?”Â
The John Edwards saga has, at once, so much sadness and so much enlightenment. There are lessons to be learned from this tale of woe. Some of the basic principles and lessons learned here could have been drawn from similar sagas that have run from Eliot Spitzer back to Grover Cleveland: 1. Truth percolates. It just wants out there. Behave accordingly. And, if you slip, admit it, make amends and disclosures (particularly when in the public eye), and then move forward. 2. Benjamin Franklin and the Hell’s Angels had it right: “Three people can keep a secret if two are dead.” 3. Never trust the people you cheat with; they will throw you under the bus. 4. Bad news concealed over time does not improve with age. By postponing, you have the bad news plus you must answer for the fact that you concealed the bad news. 5. We never know, whether in a company or among the national media, from whence important information will come. Quite often, the source we might regard as insignificant is right. Herein lies a great lesson for any organization, well beyond the media and journalists. No matter how left-field the information seems, and no matter how unlikely the source, do not dismiss reports of alleged missteps. Investigate, question, follow up, and be sure. Don’t let an issue go because your preconceived notions cause you to doubt the validity of the allegation. If the allegation is unfounded, you can prove it so. But, if the allegation is in fact the truth, you may be able to act in time to save some reputations, including your own and that of your company. Learning when to fold them is an important part of creating an ethical culture. Admit the mistake, take your lumps, and move forward. Postponing the first act of admission means the lumps are a bit more difficult to swallow and have been known to induce choking and death. Reputations are tricky things, salavaged when we own up and too often ruined when we deny for too long. Â