Anybody here familiar with journalistic ethics?

[SoxFan]

Got a pair of questions for current of former professional journalists.

1. If a journalist has a vested financial interest in a matter, and he reports on it without disclosing his involvement, is that a breach of ethics?

2. Is it kosher for a journalist to send taunting messages to a public official on matters that he is likely to have to cover?

Thx!

[madinmaryland]

1. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night so here goes...

1.) If you have a vested interest in a matter that you are reporting on, by all means you should disclose your involvement (think Judith Miller of teh NYTIMES)

2.) Why would you send taunting messages to a public official, unless you are Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Riealy?

:shrug:

[SoxFan]

6. Here's the story

Here's the lowdown...

The local weekly (Manchester Express) has gone through three or four city hall reporters in less than a year. The owner can't understand this thing called a "steady paycheck", it seems.

So, he has let a local right wing activist/nut write the city hall news column for free. This is straight from the "Things That Won't Go Well" file, since this same guy once made headlines for calling the state Dem chair a "fat liberal pig" and then dressing a sidelick in costume as said pig on cable television.

His first column was last week. In one item, he sang the praises of a candidate for county sheriff, and puffed up the right-to-know lawsuit that this guy filed against the incumbent. What the "reporter"/nut didn't mention is that he is the lawyer being paid to handle the suit.

In the second item, he claims that I am going to be brought before the city conduct board for "admitted" abuse of power, and "admittedly" using a parking vote to exact revenge on a grouchy laundromat owner. Of course, even if I did something like this, I am not so stupid as to admit it!

This same guy once held the aldermanic seat that I now hold. Since I was sworn in last January, he has sent me dozens of emails, taunting me, insulting my best friend, making crude remarks about my wife, etc. he also says that he will either run against me or do "whatever it takes" to defeat me.

Yet he is allowed to masquerade as a journalist.

Nice.

[blueraven95]

8. I'm not a journalist, but...

I know the first is considered unethical and I can't imagine the second is ethical in any way either.

If it were me, I would have friends (more than one, preferably, but not you) write letters to the paper to complain about his omission of involvement in the case. That is just wrong.

I would also write an official letter of complaint to the owner of the paper over the blatantly wrong second article. I would demand a public, visible retraction. I would also write a letter to the editor, setting the record straight.

Lastly, and this is just me feeling nasty, I would go to various other news sources (rivals of this paper) with the insulting and threatening emails (as far as I'm concerned, "do whatever it takes" is a threat). You should do whatever you can to embarrass and discredit him now. It will a) hopefully get him fired and b) hopefully help your re-election campaign. If we learned anything from Gore and Kerry, it's that no Democrat can stand by while they are being falsely smeared. Come out and hit him hard, using his own words against him.


But all that is just what I would do, and I am neither in journalism or in public office. Good luck and keep us updated!

:hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. The first one is a gross breach of ethics

The second part of the second one is just plain shitty and would make him look bad if revealed, but it'd be hard to prosecute it as an ethical violation. The first part of the second one is simply a lie, which is always unethical, though from your description of it I don't see anything that would hold up as libel.

A wrench in this is that the guy is an unpaid columnist. From a legal standpoint, that might make him little more than a writer of LTEs, especially if the editor has the foresight to include the standard disclaimer in his endline. ("The opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the paper," yadadadada.)

My own disclaimer: I am a journalist (reporter/photographer/copy editor), though not currently employed by a newspaper. You might want to poke around at www.poynter.org, where you may find better answers from people in the field of journalism ethics.

[SoxFan]

11. Thanks for the Poynter pointer!

I came across a link to their site while poking around the Society of professional Journalists site last night. It seems like a good resource.

[madinmaryland]

2. I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night so here goes...

1.) If you have a vested interest in a matter that you are reporting on, by all means you should disclose your involvement (think Judith Miller of teh NYTIMES)

2.) Why would you send taunting messages to a public official, unless you are Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Riealy?

:shrug:

[KamaAina]

3. Intimately.

Signed,

Jayson Blair

:evilgrin:

[SoxFan]

5. !

:spank:

[TZ]

4. #1 is classic conflict of interest and is unethical in any field

I can't imagine #2 is ethical either. I'm no journalist but common sense would seem to indicate it is so

[SoxFan]

7. Common sense is not part of this guy's universe

[ogneopasno]

9. Columnists are a different animal. But I'd certainly call his publisher and start talking about

lawyers, if I were you.

[SoxFan]

12. Update

I received word from the editor that there will be a retraction, albeit a bit of a mushy one, printed in Monday's edition.

[HEyHEY]

17. Whereabouts? It should be as noticable as the original article.

[SteppingRazor]

13. As a working professional journalist, I say ...

No. 1 is always a violation of ethics. There's this thing journalists have called "full disclosure."


No. 2 is most likely a breach of ethics, but I'd have to know more about the situation.

[Blue_Tires]

14. former journalist here..

1. Usually depends, but all things being equal, YES

2. NO...granted there are sometimes extenuating circumstances..

[Z_I_Peevey]

15. 1. Yes 2. No

But then again, I'm an old person, from back in the day when type was hot and objectivity was cool.

[HEyHEY]

16. As a professional......

The first one is definately a breach of ethics. Under no circumstances should a reporter report on anything they have a financial interest in, even if they declare it.

On the second it depends on the taunting. It may just be unprofessional, but if the taunting is to get said politician to perform some kind of action than it's an ethic no-no.

I've made very rude and smartass comments to polticians during scrums (A real doozy to Rona Ambrose once, Canadian asshats will be happy to know). But, I've never sent messages after the fact.

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. Not for the last 30 years or so, no. Haven't seen it at all. Forgotten what it's even like.