Monday, February 4, 2008
Third competitor for Ward B seat throws in name
By Bob Stuart
The News Virginian
Published 2/2/2008
Excerpt:
He also wants to see more recruitment of tenants to the city's industrial park to complement the retail base in the West End. "City leaders have to make sure that city government is running as effectively and efficiently as is possible," Graham said. Graham's potential dual role as a magazine editor and councilman raises
concerns, said Bob Steele, the senior ethics faculty member at the
Florida-based Poynter Institute, a school for working journalists.
"There are
some significant tensions given those competing loyalties," Steele
said. "Many would not see it as competing loyalties, but as conflicts
of interest."
Steele said matters of secrecy could create conflicts in both roles for Graham.
"It's a
very difficult equation, to hold the powerful accountable and to be one
of the powerful, and to be the independent and honest broker
journalists are supposed to be," Steele said. Steele said one option is for Graham to recuse himself from covering city government and politics.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Public and Private Lives, Interesting
By Clark Hoyt
The New York Times
Published 1/20/2008
Excerpt:
Whelan is president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy
Center. But his increasingly intemperate and personal attacks on
Greenhouse indicate something other than a legitimate concern about
ethics. They feel more like bullying. But even if he cannot
convincingly fault Greenhouse's coverage of the prisoner cases, and
whatever his motives, Whelan has raised a real issue that has troubled
newsrooms for as long as journalists have made friendships, fallen in
love or otherwise had a life outside of work. "All journalists have
competing loyalties," said
Robert M. Steele, an ethics scholar at
The
Poynter Institute, a journalism research center in St. Petersburg, Fla.
First, I would not have removed Greenhouse from the story. As
Wilkins said, if The Times did that, "we have knowingly given our
readers less than our best." But after the first conversation between
Greenhouse and Taubman, The Times should have clued in readers.
Second,
I would have practiced what Steele called "transparency with
accountability," revisiting the issue from time to time, certainly with
each new case, to determine Fidell's level of participation and whether
the initial decision should be reconsidered. Taubman recalls doing
that, but when Baquet became bureau chief last March, he was not told
of Taubman's understanding with Greenhouse. And, despite the
guidelines, nobody told Craig Whitney, the standards editor.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2008
'Person of interest' - unfair or useful?
By Chelsea Phua
Sacbee.com
Published 1/15/2008
Excerpt:
Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman, said in a recent
interview with The Bee that "person of interest" is not a term the
department uses. He said the Hatfill case was the only time he knows of
the department using it.
Usage of the term seemed to balloon after the Hatfield case.
A
search of a database of major U.S. newspapers in the Lexis-Nexis
research system showed that the term was rarely used until 2001. That
year, fewer than 400 articles carried the term. In 2002, the number had
more than doubled. By 2004, the term peppered thousands of stories.
Television
stations and newspapers are also grappling with the term's usage. Bob
Steele, The Poynter Institute's ethics and values scholar, advises
journalists to respectfully and appropriately pressure law enforcement
agencies to clarify what they mean.
"Absent some sort of definition, the term could carry implications beyond what it might be intended," Steele said.
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Welcome to My World
By Alicia C. Shepard
NPR
Published 1/15/2008
Excerpt:
The best journalists know that strong news organizations become
stronger by listening to their critics. "I think good journalists and
good organizations are open to criticism," says
Bob Steele, ethics guru
at
The Poynter Institute. "They
should actually seek it out. When you are receptive to criticism, then
there are times when you can say, 'Well, we didn't dig as deep as we
should have or the reporting wasn't thorough or aggressive enough.' "
Read the entire article...Friday, January 11, 2008
GOP Chairman behind mailing
By Kevin P. Craver
Northwest Herald
Published 1/7/2008
Excerpt:
Koehler, like Bianchi and Kelly, said he
felt it inappropriate for the Daily Herald to not only consent to the
mailing, but also to put their telephone number for subscription
information on the back. However, the newspaper did not do anything
wrong, said Kelly McBride, ethics expert with The Poynter Institute, a
St. Petersburg-based journalism school."You don't want to get
into the business of, 'These are the people who we will let use our
work, and here are the people who we won't let use our work,'" McBride
said. "That's a messy place if you go there."
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Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Bloomberg campaign would challenge Bloomberg News
By Melanie Lefkowitz
Newsday.com
Published 1/8/2008
Excerpt:
Potential conflicts of interest between reporters and the owners of
their news companies are nothing new. Publishers large and small
frequently have involvement in politics, and many reporters —
particularly business reporters — have experience covering their
employers. It can be done fairly, experts say, but it takes vigilance.
"He should be treated like any other politician," said
Bob Steele, an
ethics expert at
The Poynter Institute. "You cannot remove entirely the
perception that there are competing interests, but you can manage those
competing interests in ways that significantly protect the journalistic
integrity."
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