Talk About Ethics

What does a news organization do when it becomes the story? How does it avoid ethical pitfalls given an inherent conflict of interest? How do the executives honor the independence of their journalists so they can cover the story with the rigor that it deserves?

The Seattle Times has created an intriguing plan that may serve as a blueprint for other news organizations. The Times just hired a free-lance business reporter to cover ongoing developments in the Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) that ties the Times to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The freelancer will be an independent contractor whose reporting will neither be guided nor edited by top Times editors.

The Seattle JOA is one of a handful of comparable arrangements in cities across the country allowed by the government. The JOA is designed to keep some degree of newspaper competition while protecting a financially struggling paper from closing.

There's been plenty of controversy surrounding the Seattle JOA, much of it focusing on the strategies of the majority owners of the Times, the Blethen family. Various reports have suggested that Times publisher Frank Blethen intends to force changes in the JOA that eventually could result in the P-I (owned by The Hearst Corp.) going dark.

A story in the Times on Jan. 7 explained the hiring of the "outsider," Bill Richards a former Wall Street Journal senior writer and assistant bureau chief who also once wrote for the Post-Intelligencer.

"Acting independently of Blethen and the company's business offices, Times editors late last year contacted Richards about covering the story should it develop.

"'Although we in the newsroom aren't sure what the company plans, we felt we had better be prepared for what looks likely,' said Assistant Managing Editor David Boardman. 'We decided we could best serve our readers and the community by turning to someone outside our own walls to cover this,'" according to the Times story.

The Times was wise in taking this action. While there's no way to eradicate the perception of conflict of interest in covering itself and the story, this approach heightens the paper's credibility in covering itself on this important and contentious issue.

I've recommended this tactic –- hiring a freelancer to cover yourself –- to other news organizations in recent years. In at least one case the organization gave it a try.

WTVT-TV, the FOX affiliate in Tampa Bay, hired not one but two freelancers to cover a highly controversial whistleblower lawsuit involving the station. Phil Metlin, the Vice President of News for WTVT, said the station was "accused by former employees of allowing content to be dictated by an advertiser and that we were forcing these two former employees to lie in their scripts about the subject matter."

Metlin said by e-mail that, "We decided to hire freelancers to cover [the trial] so we would not be accused of slanting our reporting … We wanted a reporter and copy editor to oversee the work. There was no WTVT management oversight in what was reported … It worked very well. The reporting was fair and in-depth."

"Whenever a paper bends over backwards to provide trustworthy coverage, readers get better information and I think credibility on one topic spreads to credibility on other stories." -- Joann ByrdWhile Metlin says he hopes he never faces a similar legal challenge, he would again hire a freelancer to cover a major story involving his station.

The Seattle Times situation is different because it involves a long-running story that is about both the Times and its competitor yet business partner, the P-I.

Among those closely watching this Seattle Times experiment is Joann Byrd, the editorial page editor of the P-I. Byrd also happens to be one of the country's premier journalism ethicists. She is the current chair of the American Society of Newspaper Editors ethics and values committee. She has taught in a number of Poynter ethics seminars. And she spent several years as the Ombudsman at The Washington Post.

In an e-mail exchange, I asked Byrd her assessment of the Times' hiring of the outsider to cover the JOA story.

"I think The Seattle Times is really smart to hire an independent reporter to cover the JOA.  I have recommended this approach to other newspapers in the past because it enhances the credibility of the paper's coverage of itself. As much as newspapers try to cover themselves with an even hand, readers are invited to be skeptical of whether the paper can accomplish disinterest.

"Whenever a paper bends over backwards to provide trustworthy coverage, readers get better information and I think credibility on one topic spreads to credibility on other stories. Whenever a newspaper has a conflict of interest -- and at least the appearance of a conflict is a given when the story is about the paper -- it is better for readers and better for the newsroom if an outsider does the reporting. Independence is the foundation of believability.

"I think hiring an outside reporter also helps the mental health of the existing news staff: it means the paper is not requiring one or two of them to walk the tightrope of covering their employer and writing on topics that could have big impact on their colleagues in the newsroom."

The Seattle Times took an additional unique step in the hiring of the outsider. Should either the newspaper or freelance reporter Richards believe that the three-year contractual agreement for this relationship has been violated, they can turn to an outside mediator to help resolve that disagreement. (In this case, the outside mediator happens to be James Naughton, the president of the Poynter Institute).

Joann Byrd believes this extra element is "an insurance policy that the relationship between the reporter and the paper will be as advertised."

We now have an extra reason to keep a close eye on how things play out in Seattle with the contentious JOA situation. We can consider whether The Seattle Times' approach to covering itself is legitimate. We also can assess whether the Times' effort might serve as a model for other news organizations who recognize there is a journalistic imperative in shining a bright light of scrutiny on yourself even when it's mighty uncomfortable. 

Disclosure: In addition to the various Poynter connections to this story described above, Bob Steele has served as a consultant for the Blethen family and has conducted ethics workshops for WTVT-TV.

[ What do you think of the Times decision? ]