Separate Ethics for an Editor?
Are ethics different for editors and for reporters? What about ethics for an editor who covers events and issues and then writes editorials about said events and issues? When does the written editorial move the editor into conflict of interest?
The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics suggests a series of “shoulds.” Journalists should do this or that or should not do that or this.
A city councilman has contacted the Committee with what he believes to be an egregious violation of the “Act Independently” section the SPJ Code of Ethics. He believes it patently wrong for an editor to cover issues and events of the city council and then write “scathing” editorials. The councilman claims the editor “organized” a recall election against another member of the council. SPJ code says the journalist “should avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.” The journalist “should remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.”
It is noted here that the recall election centers on a different city councilman who was fined $20,000 by the Public Disclosure Commission for obliquely channeling contributions to other council campaigns including that of the councilman who contacted SPJ. Of the two weekly newspapers in the community one sends a reporter to cover the council. The editor of the other chooses to cover the city council which leads our concerned councilman to believe the editor is invoking personal values in an attempt to make public policy by choosing what to report to the community and then strongly advocating editorially for a particular point of view. The editor has admitted inadvertent errors of fact and omissions of fact that the councilman believes are purposeful.
The councilman has been advised that the editor may choose to cover and write about, even editorialize, whatever the editor believes is germane to the paper’s readership. All reporters are hired to select and write about those facts and actions they consider relevant in their coverage. The councilman has also been advised that much accrues to him as a public figure including media interpretation of his actions as a public servant. My review of 60 pages of articles and editorials revealed little that might warrant formal review by the Ethics Committee.
It is not known whether the editor-slash-reporter subscribes to the SPJ code of ethics or to any other code for that matter.
Could be that the editor is also a full-time reporter covering a beat just like everyone else. Maybe the economics of a weekly newspaper can’t support a separate opinion staff or editorial board. That being the case the editor should be as fair as possible in coverage and strive to avoid the public perception that reporting is agenda driven. It would be ideal for editorials to be based on coverage by other reporters. A newspaper in such a situation ought to try extra hard to be fair and neutral. Coverage and editorials should be judged on their own. If there's a bias in coverage - no matter the arrangement - that's wrong.
Public mistrust of journalists and journalism has much to do about the power of media and the public’s lack of recourse when editors and reporters step over the line. In this instance, the editor and the councilman are each at the precipice of credibility.
Hugh Davis