Another ethical issue

As I sit here writing about another personal news situation where I found myself questioning my ethics afterwards, I think about my past Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, when I covered the state auditor race in Missouri and Republican challenger Tom Schweich's party. I got to Clayton, a St. Louis suburb, where he held his watch party, and I stayed there until about 12:30 Wednesday morning. Tom only talked at a couple of points during the night, and each of them didn't last very long. He came out at one point and told the crowd he and his men were still in the back 'crunching the numbers' and that he appreciated everyone coming out. Later on in the night, he came out a second time to tell the smaller crowd that he didn't see how Democratic incumbent Susan Montee could come back. The sticky situation of the night came next.

After he came out a second time, I got in position for him to address the crowd for a third time and to tell them he'd won. We kept waiting and waiting, and he didn't want to say anything before the official results were in. Keep in mind, the restaurant where his party took place didn't have any huge barriers between the 'war room' in the back and all the people drinking in front. So after about five minutes, I decided to go back to the room where Schweich and his men had been the entire night. Sure enough, by the time I got back there, Schweich and Montee were talking over the phone. Montee had called to concede the race.

I started recording as soon as possible and once he hung up the phone, he jumped up in the air and flailed both his arms upward in celebration. It looked rather funny to the outsider because you don't see that type of reaction every day. After coming out the door, he told me not to use that shot. He said he hadn't seen the camera. I laughed because he seemed so excited right after he hung up the phone. By no means did he seem vicious when he told me this. Now though, came decision time. 

As a journalist, what do I do in a situation like this? I just got my best shot of the night. The scene seemed very light hearted. Do I persuade Tom into letting me use it? Not say anything and just laugh it off? Or do I not use the video at all? I went with option number two. I decided to use the video because I felt like I hadn't defamed him. Also, I knew Schweich would never see the video. He lives outside St. Louis. I knew my consequences would probably be fairly slim.

Also, my teacher told me in class, if a source does something and then tells you not to use it, it still counts as 'on the record.' However, if I had to do it again, I would have told Schweich what he did still counted as 'on the record.' I never did that. Our teacher told us you can use everything a person says or does unless they tell you 'off the record' before they do the action or give the sound bite. He told me not to use it after I had shot the video. However, I made it sound like I planned on not using it. As I said before, I would have done things differently if I had to do it all over again, and I feel like I would have been able to persuade an easy going guy like Schweich into using it if I just talked to him. I also know there could be repercussions on more serious issues like this in the near future if I don't take the right precautions.

Tell me what you would have done in this situation
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