Journalistic Values III

Car repair shops in a college town are suspected of telling students that their cars need unnecessary repairs that often cost hundreds of dollars. Your editor asks you to loosen a spark plug wire on your car and take it to five garages to find out what they would charge to fix the engine's problem. At the very first garage you visit, the mechanic asks, "You're not a report, are you?" What would you say?

First off, a reporter is under no obligation to tell some their job. Also, someone's job does not affect how a mechanic would fix their car. I would evade the question. If I am asked point blank, I would ask why they are asking; I just came in to get my car fixed, the knowledge of my occupation should not be required for him to do his job. Furthermore, if the mechanic is asking me if I am a reporter, it is probably because he has something to hide.