It was the kind of hypothetical no journalist looks forward to answering: What would you do if you were tracking enemy soldiers and could see they were about to come upon a platoon of Americans? Would you record the action, knowing full well that American soldiers would likely die, or would you warn them?

One general rule of journalism is that a reporter should not become part of the story. But when does that cardinal rule give way to morality? What responsibilities do American reporters have to American soldiers?

In a now famous television segment, ABC news anchor Peter Jennings, 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace, and General Brent Scowcroft debated this and more.

The clip begins with ABC news anchor Peter Jennings saying he would do everything he could “to warn the Americans” even if it meant not getting live coverage. “Other reporters might have a different reaction.”

Legendary CBS reporter Mike Wallace replied, “Other reporters would have a different reaction.” They would, he said, “regard it as another story they were there to cover.”

Wallace claimed he was astonished to hear his colleague say that. “You are a reporter,” Wallace said. “Granted you are an American,” but “you are a reporter covering combat.” He added, “I am little bit at a loss to understand why, because you are an American, you would not have covered that story.”

“Why,” he went on, “would a reporter say I am not going to cover that because I am unhappy about what is happening there?”

When asked if he, as an American, had a higher duty. “No, you don’t have a higher duty. You are a reporter. Your job is to cover what is going on in that war. People know that Americans are getting killed in that war.”

Jennings then agreed with Wallace, saying he had “chickened out.”

General Brent Scowcroft took them both to task for not seeing there is a higher calling.

Click here to view the video.