Are You a Mirror or a Puppet?

FIRST OFF, LET me say that this post is not about politics. As journalists, we neither support nor attack politicians and/ or their policies. We simply report what we learn.

My question to you is this: is it responsible to publish the image on the right? It was taken by the Associated Press and run in various outlets, including the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The image was created at an Obama health care plan protest in Washington, DC on Saturday. The event was sponsored by the conservative Tea Party Patriots and hyped by conservative talk show hosts like Glenn Beck.

Should journalists refrain from showing disrespectful protest signs? Should the media report what people say, even if their comments are incorrect and inflammatory? For instance, Bloomberg News reported this:

Jeremy Batterson, 40, from Baltimore passed out pamphlets with a picture of Obama sprouting a Hitler-like mustache. He said Obama was trying to insert a provision into the health-care bill to perform euthanasia on the terminally ill and senior citizens.

“He’s insisting we do the same thing here to reduce health-care costs and we have to stop him,” Batterson said.

It's what the man said, but what the man said has been denied repeatedly by the president. So, do you run it? Do you balance it by repeating the president's denials?

Can you separate your politics from your reporting in a story like this?