Poynter on the Record

Conflicting with a tradition of journalistic restraint, reporters and TV personalities across the country have funneled nearly $4,000 into Democrat Deval Patrick's campaign for Massachusetts governor.

Two of Boston's most popular TV news personalites, CBS4's Liz Walker and WCVB-TV meteorologist Dick Albert, each donated $500 -- the maximum amount allowed -- to Patrick's campaign.

Those contributions, as well as $500 donations by WGBH radio host Christopher Lydon and Boston Globe correspondent David Arnold, were first reported by WRKO radio host Scott Allen Miller. A Herald review found a total of 11 professional newspeople have given money to Patrick. ...

... Bob Steele, a senior ethics faculty member at the Poynter Institute, said it's wise for journalists working at news organizations to "stay clear of political activism."
"If you're covering environment or energy or business or religion or sports, you're quite possibly at some point going to write about an issue that has a relationship to a particular politician," he said.
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