Death Raises Questions of Propriety

The slaying of Bill Cosby’s son has fueled discussion about journalistic responsibility, as reporters wrestled with questions regarding the propriety of “staking out” the comic’s home seeking interviews.

The debate was spurred in part by Fox News Channel, a cable network launched in October, which issued a statement Friday saying its employees “will not stake out the home of actor Bill Cosby or attempt to contact any member of the Cosby family for comment about the death of Mr. Cosby’s son.”

Cosby’s spokesman, David Brokaw, also urged journalists to exercise restraint, providing the Reuters news agency with a statement in which the family said,, “We do not accept people coming to our homes, because this is a time we want to ourselves to find solutions to questions in our hearts.”

News organizations were quick to defend their policies, and some competitors saw the Fox announcement as a potential grab for publicity. Still, most were cautious not to be too critical of the idea, which doubtless strikes a responsive chord with some members of the public.

John Moody, Fox News Channel vice president, said there was no general policy in regard to grieving families and that he didn’t believe the service was behaving differently toward Cosby because of his celebrity.

“I watched Bill Cosby make a statement which obviously came from the soul. I just don’t think it’s appropriate to stick microphones in the guy’s face,” said Moody, who stressed that the network wasn’t after publicity, despite putting out a news release about its decision.

On Thursday, Cosby--confronted by reporters outside his home in New York--said of his son, 27-year-old Ennis Cosby, “He was my hero.”

Moody said he felt that statement was sufficient until Cosby chooses to say more. “What I don’t want to be doing is hounding this family,” Moody told his staff Friday. “A lot of people in America view us as needlessly intrusive, and I don’t want to be that [way] in this case.”

Fox News Channel is available in about 19 million homes, less than one in five nationally. The service doesn’t make policy for the Fox TV stations or other units of its parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which also owns tabloid newspapers, including the New York Post.

Some news executives privately accused Fox News Channel of grandstanding with its announcement, especially after CNN--the leading cable news network--drew criticism Thursday for airing raw footage showing the victim in a pool of blood. CNN later apologized on air, saying its use of such footage was inappropriate and inadvertent.

“We are not staking out the Cosby home,” said CNN spokesman Steve Haworth. “It is our policy always to balance the public’s right to know with the aggrieved’s right to privacy.”

Local stations offered extended coverage after the story broke on Thursday, with most doing live “stand-ups”--reporting live outside the Cosby homes in Pacific Palisades and New York--throughout the day. News executives said they’ll continue to cover the story but intend to be sensitive to the Cosby family.

“Cosby’s arrival back in Los Angeles is legitimate news, and because it’s television we need pictures of that,” said Larry Perret, news director of KCBS-TV Channel 2. “Beyond that, we’re not going to be out there [at Cosby’s house] every day.”

“We’re covering the story, that’s all,” said Jose Rios, news director at KTTV-TV Channel 11, the Fox station in Los Angeles. “We’re going to be respectful, the same way we would be with anybody.”

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An NBC News spokeswoman said: “We are not staking out Bill Cosby, nor do we have any requests for an interview.” She added that such issues are addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Representatives at tabloid TV magazine shows, such as “Hard Copy” and “Inside Edition,” couldn’t be reached.

The CBS network, which televises Cosby’s latest series, “Cosby,” on Monday nights, is also taking steps to be sensitive to the situation.

Before the slaying, CBS had repeats of “Cosby” scheduled for the next two weeks. The network consulted with Cosby in making the decision to air the shows. And Friday, the network substituted different reruns for those weeks because each episode peripherally dealt with crime-related issues.

The show that had been set to air Monday focused in a comical way on neighborhood-watch efforts. Instead, CBS will televise an episode in which Cosby attends a basketball game.

Monday’s episode will close with a picture of Ennis Cosby and an “In Memoriam” tag. CBS Entertainment officials weren’t publicizing that fact, concerned not to look as if they are seeking to generate attention from a tragic situation.

A spokeswoman for the network’s news division also said that CBS is “extremely sensitive to the Cosby family’s situation, [in part] because he’s also a part of the CBS family.” The network added that efforts are always made to be respectful of grieving families.

More original episodes of “Cosby” are expected to air as scheduled beginning in early February, when a monthlong ratings “sweeps” begins. The show was already scheduled to take a production break next week.

It remains undecided when filming might resume, though Cosby’s spokesman said he is likely to return to work a week from Monday, after the scheduled hiatus.

“Production is the least of our concerns,” a spokesman for Carsey-Werner, the show’s production company, said Thursday.