While WSLS-TV was reporting Thursday that former WSLS weatherman Marc Lamarre was alive despite widespread rumors of his death, the station's handling of the situation was stirring up an ethical question: Did the television station have a responsibility to its audience to go public before it did?

That question is tough to answer, given rules protecting an employee's right to privacy about health issues, said officials for area television stations and others who were asked to comment.

WSLS general manager Kathy Mohn told viewers repeatedly Thursday that her station was bound by laws on privacy. Speaking on camera, she said, "I would like all the viewers to understand that we are obligated by federal and state law not to comment about any employee's personal or employee history. Period."

The news factor in the case changed late Thursday when competitor WDBJ (Channel 7) broke the story that linked Lamarre to a heroin overdose.

WSLS also reported that link in Friday's newscasts, which included a taped message from Lamarre, an interview with Lamarre's sister and a statement from Mohn explaining the company's ethics policy and legal standing.

Opinion about what WSLS should have reported from the start has varied.

Kelly McBride, ethics group leader for the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said, "Any reporting they would have done would have raised more questions than they could have answered. Unless there's something particularly unusual about the rumors ... I don't know that you're obligated to dispel a rumor about someone's personal health."

"What you have is someone going through something private and no compelling reason to go public," said McBride, who assists newsrooms when they must report on themselves.

As of Friday afternoon, new developments in the investigation, if any, had not been released. Heidi Coy, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Roanoke, said she could not comment on whether anyone had been charged other than Gilbert Dennis Hadden, who is being held on federal charges.

Media consultants and television officials interviewed for this story agreed that it's a painful process for a news organization to report on itself.

That doesn't mean a medium should duck out, said Jim Shaver, a former WBDJ vice president of news and programming. A news organization holds a public trust to report on itself when necessary, he said. "A news organization has a responsibility to be honest," Shaver said.

Randy Smith, president of WSET (Channel 13), agreed, saying, "If it was something that's a newsworthy event, we attempt to ... go out and tell the story. We would want to be the ones to break the story. We would want to be as forthright and as open as possible."

Smith said WSLS is in a difficult situation, and he believes station officials are probably walking a fine line between protecting Lamarre's privacy and doing the business of a news organization.

"In defense of Channel 10 -- and they are a competitor of mine -- they are good people," Smith said. "I have not had any conversations with them about this. They are trying to make the best decisions they can make in a difficult time. I believe they are acting under very intelligent counsel and being told what they can and can't say."

WSLS news director Shane Moreland said Friday the station contacted parent company Media General and other company stations for advice, and set up a team of reporters to work independently on the story.

"When something this big comes up we send it to the ethics team, and they decide how it's covered," Moreland said. "I'll tell you ... it was a pickle. We were trying to dig up information we were able to report. We wanted to do this the same way as we would approach any story."

Accomplishing this task became complicated for legal reasons, Moreland said.

Smith and other area media leaders said the only way a news organization can legally report on an employee, present or former, is if the person has been involved in or charged with a crime. Otherwise, personnel matters stay private, they said.

"If it's a situation that involves personnel records and things that don't involve breaking the law, we wouldn't divulge information," Smith said. "No company in their right mind would discuss private personnel issues unless they were matters that were going to be public."

Meanwhile, Jim Kent, WDBJ's news director, said he's thankful that in recent years his station hasn't had to report on itself regarding troubling employee issues.

"Having to report on yourself is no fun," he said. "It's one of the most difficult things you have to do. You still have a responsibility to your viewers because you're a news organization. Every case is different. There are things about [the Lamarre] case nobody knows, I'm sure."

Ultimately, Kent said, reporting on yourself requires being careful and, in the end, doing the right thing.

That's extremely important when news credibility is under fire and there's information, true and untrue, about people on the Internet, Shaver said.

The media, he said, has to "put it out there and let the public decide. It's not an easy thing to do." He recalled an incident in which a WDBJ employee was caught forging prescriptions.

"We reported on ourselves and we reported first," Shaver said. "The first thing we thought is, we'd better be proactive instead of reactive."

Staff Writer Lindsey Nair contributed to this report.