Dr. Julie Lambert, a science educator at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) who suffered a ruptured aneurysm and fell into a coma during an academic visit to Costa Rica, has been approved to fly home aboard a commercial airline as long as she sits in the first class section with a nurse by her side.

As previously reported in The Costa Rica Star, Professor Lambert is a passionate science educator who specializes in climate issues; she is adored by her students and fellow faculty members. After suffering an aneurysm and being treated at Clinica Bíblica in San José, Professor Lambert went through a coma episode. Upon awakening, she found herself stranded as she needed an expensive private medical flight.

Alana Edwards, a staff member of FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies and one of the nicest friends that Professor Lambert or anyone else can hope to count on, set up an online crowdfunding campaign to cover the medical flight expenses. The flight was reported to cost over $25,000.

The Costa Rica Star learned about Professor Lambert’s plight through a report by Ryan Lynch, Multimedia Editor of the University Press, a news publication edited by students of FAU, a public university funded by the good people of the State of Florida.

As it happened, the reporting of Professor Lambert’s plight in Costa Rica brought up an opportunity to discuss issues related to media ethics and education.

Author’s Note: I rarely apply a first-person narrative to my reports. This is an exception that merits it.

Readers of The Costa Rica Star are used to reading news releases from universities around the world that have something to do with current affairs in our country. Costa Rica is known as a major destination for educational tourism, an important contributor to our economy. In fact, Professor Lambert’s visit is an example of educational tourism. Moreover, FAU has a study abroad offering in Costa Rica.

For years, I have been scanning news reports and releases from public and private universities around the world that may relate to Costa Rica. We can all easily agree that public outreach and information are important function of higher education institutions such as FAU, particularly when they are funded by the public they serve. Such reports are routinely republished by The Costa Rica Star as press releases; recent examples include the new rainforest campus of York University, or the work of a British researcher who is passionate about sloths, or scientists from a private U.S. university who are researching the Zika virus in our country, or even the ordeal suffered by Professor Lambert. I file these reports under the Education category, which not many other publications in Costa Rica feature.

A few universities have written to thank us for meaningfully extending their outreach, and this is something that we find many of our readers are interested in.

Many universities allow students to participate in the administration of public affairs; this gives students in the fields of journalism, media and communications an opportunity to practice their future profession. I thought this was the case with FAU, but I later realized that it is not.

I came across the news report about Professor Lambert though a ProQuest alert provided by a different Florida university that I am affiliated with. I read the article with interest; Mr. Lynch did an excellent job with the report, and it is easy to see that he has a bright future in journalism.

I cannot compliment Mr. Lynch as a journalist because I am not. I am a language teacher, and my media experience comes from years of writing advertising copy; In fact, I once worked with ad agency that placed its clients in the Sun Sentinel newspaper, and thus I met some FAU alumni during that work experience. Still, as a news reader I can tell that Mr. Lynch produces good reports.

Mr. Lynch initially contacted The Costa Rica Star and requested that his article be taken down. He explained that the University Press is not affiliated with FAU, and this was further corroborated by Joshua D. Glanzer, Assistant Vice President of Media Relations and Public Affairs.

Even though I had linked to Mr. Lynch’s original article and labeled the post as an FAU media release, I should not have done so. I made a mistake in assuming that University Press, though funded by the people of Florida and operating within campus, had some sort of Public Affairs function.

Mr. Lynch also requested that the article be taken down through the following comment:

As a language teacher, I cannot let the above misspelled comment pass: It should be “plagiarized,” but I realize it may have been written in the heat of the moment and without the benefit of editing.

I did not feel that taking down the article would have benefited Professor Lambert, a fellow educator in need. Many readers of The Costa Rica Star are from Florida (our political columnist, Mr. Britt Nelson, is a retired editor of the Palatka Daily News), and I thought that the article may reach the right people who could help Professor Lambert. In fact, we can see that GoFundMe contributions really picked up after the article was published; this moved The Costa Rica Star to pitch in with a modest donation:

 

Mr. Lynch eventually recanted on his original request to take down the article; he mostly wanted his name to be published along with it. Instead of making the change, I waited to write this article, for I believe it is important to discuss certain matters related to media ethics raised by this situation.

First of all: Kudos to Mr. Lynch for writing this piece with just a GoFundMe link to start off with; we have already established that Mr. Lynch has a bright future in journalism.

Second: That Mr. Lynch no longer wanted the article taken down is commendable because it adheres to the tenets of the Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists, to wit:

• Public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy.
• Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information.
• Support the open and civil exchange of views.
• Recognize a special obligation to serve as watchdogs over public affairs and government.

As of the time this article is being published, Mr. Lynch’s report stands as the only one on Professor Lambert’s situation, who will soon return home. No mention has been made by NewsDesk, the online arm of FAU Media Relations.

With his report, Mr. Lynch has not only served the people of Florida who fund FAU; he has prompted others to take action and has also sparked social media discussion about Professor Lambert’s situation, particularly with regard to whether Florida workers compensation could have covered the medical flight. Also discussed was the potential need for travel insurance when FAU academic staff travels abroad. Ideas were exchanged, suggestions were made and funds were collected for the benefit of Professor Lambert; this is the impact of Mr. Lynch’s reporting.

Mr. Lynch and Mr. Glanzer were not the only ones who clamored for attribution. Emily Bloch, Editor-in-Chief of the University Press, chimed in with the following comment:

While it is certainly refreshing and commendable to see a newspaper editor sticking up for her fellow staff, I take exception about Miss Bloch’s comment suggesting that this “could have been about helping someone get home.” It was always about getting Professor Lambert home, and that is where she is headed.

In the end, this article could have been about catering to the whims of Mr. Lynch, Mr. Glanzer and Miss Bloch, but it is not. This is about thanking those who helped Professor Lambert, who is adored by her FAU students and who is committed to preserving the ecosystems of her beloved South Florida. Through the sequence of events triggered by Mr. Lynch, Mr. Glanzer and Miss Bloch, enough funds have been collected to cover Professor Lambert’s medical expenses and first-class return flight with a nurse by her side.

For those who demanded attribution, this article should suffice. I believe the following comment by reader Nancy Burns Carter sums it up well: