Tampa Tribune reporter Brad Smith resigned under pressure Wednesday for fabricating the introduction to a story about private towing companies, as well as other ethical breaches.

In a lengthy editor’s note today, Executive Editor Janet Weaver explains how the newspaper violated the public trust:

In a front-page story called “Private Towing Largely Unregulated,” Smith told the story of Tracey Sievertsen, who was shocked after concluding a night of club-hopping to discover her Jeep had been towed from a Tampa parking lot.

Problem is, Sievertsen lent her Jeep to a friend. She spent the evening at home with her child. She wasn’t there to express her shock.

But Smith was. He and a buddy were out with Sievertson’s friend, and all three discovered the vehicle had been towed.

So in short, the Tribune’s writer violated three ethical standards: don’t make things up, don’t write stories about your friends, and don’t cover events in which you were directly involved (although this is acceptable in some circumstances).

Ethical breaches, like sin, have destructive consequences. The story had a valid point — some private towing companies can be unethical and tow vehicles on a number of quasi-legal pretenses. What could have been a public-service story that busted the practice wide open became immediately discredited.

One less lying journalist writing bogus stories, and a newspaper that took quick action after hearing what happened. Now let’s compare this with what would have happened had Smith worked for the Washington Post, which likely would look something like this:

1) Admit that while Smith fudged some key details, the Jeep was in fact towed.
2) Ombudsman Michael Getler calls the story “generally accurate.”
3) Media Writer Howard “The Corporate Tool” Kurtz stonewalls for two weeks, laughing at bloggers because Smith’s story was accurate — after all, the Jeep was towed, right?