Society of Professional Journalists: Is "Public Affairs" a Euphemism for Propaganda?

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Ethics Committee
This committee's purpose is to encourage the use of the Society's Code of Ethics, which promotes the highest professional standards for journalists of all disciplines. Public concerns are often answered by this committee. It also acts as a spotter for reporting trends in the nation, accumulating case studies of jobs well done under trying circumstances.

Ethics Committee chair

Kevin Z. Smith
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Fred Brown, vice chair
2862 S. Oakland Ct.
Aurora, Colo., 80014
303/829-4647
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Bio (click to expand)

Fred Brown is a former national president of SPJ (1997-98) and is very active on its ethics committee. He writes a column on ethics for Quill magazine and served on the committee that wrote the Society’s 1996 code of ethics.

Brown officially retired from The Denver Post in early 2002, but continues to write a Sunday editorial page column for the newspaper. He also does analysis for Denver’s NBC television station, teaches communication ethics at the University of Denver, and is a principal in Hartman & Brown, LLP, a media training and consulting firm. He has won several awards for writing and community service, including a Sigma Delta Chi Award for editorial writing in 1988. He is an Honor Alumnus of Colorado State University, a member of the Denver Press Club Hall of Fame, and serves on the boards of directors of Colorado Public Radio, the Colorado Freedom of Information Council and the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation.

SPJ Ethics
Committee Members

Lauren Bartlett
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Bio (click to expand)

Lauren Bartlett is currently a Director at Large for the Society of Professional Journalists, chairs the national Communications Committee and is a member of the Ethics Committee and the Finance Committee.
Lauren was a three-time president of SPJ’s Greater Los Angeles chapter. Lauren works in media relations at Southern California Edison and previously worked in media relations at UCLA, her alma mater.

Before joining UCLA in 2000, Lauren was a reporter in Los Angeles for 12 years, the last 10 of which were at the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the country’s largest daily legal affairs newspaper.

Lauren’s professional career began when she was a junior in high school and wrote a weekly column for the Contra Costa Sun. In her senior year of high school she reported for the Contra Costa Times. While attending UCLA she interned at the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and Copley News Service.

Upon graduation Lauren worked at the Los Angeles bureau of The Associated Press and City News Service, a regional wire service, before joining the Daily Journal.

Lauren was honored in 2011 with a President’s Award for distinguished service to the Society. In 2001, she was honored with the Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award for her contributions to the SPJ Greater Los Angeles chapter and Region 11. She has been a member of the SPJ/LA Board of Directors since 1996.

Elizabeth Donald
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Bio (click to expand)

Elizabeth Donald has been a reporter with the News-Democrat for over a decade. She is a mobile reporter covering Madison County, with an emphasis on city government, education and the environment. She is the News-Democrat's liaison to the Latino Roundtable of Southwestern Illinois, author of several fiction novels and writes CultureGeek, the News-Democrat's pop-culture blog.

A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Donald is a frequent guest lecturer at local universities on the practical applications of journalism ethics and the changing nature of newspapers in the 21st century. She has won multiple awards and currently serves as vice president of the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists.

Mike Farrell
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Bio (click to expand)

Mike Farrell serves as director of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center at the University of Kentucky and as an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications. He began teaching as an adjunct in 1980 at Northern Kentucky University, continued as a graduate teaching assistant at UK in 1996, and has been a full-time faculty member there since 2000. He won the college teaching award in 2006.

He teaches reporting, media ethics, media law, journalism history, editing, media law, covering religion news and column writing.

He was a reporter, city editor and managing editor during a 20-year career at The Kentucky Post.

A native of Northern Kentucky, he earned his undergraduate degree at Moody Bible Institute, Chicago. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees at UK, where he focused on media law. He is a member of the Bluegrass Chapter and co-adviser of the UK student chapter of SPJ.

Irwin Gratz
207/874-6570
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Bio (click to expand)

Irwin Gratz has been in radio news for nearly 30 years. He worked as a reporter, anchor and News Director for the number-one rated commercial station in Portland, Maine before going to work for public radio in 1992 as local anchor of “Morning Edition.”

A native of New York City, Irwin holds a Masters Degree in journalism from New York University. He has taught a college course on media ethics and has been a guest lecturer on journalism ethics and broadcast news writing.

Irwin has been a member of the Society of Professional Journalists since 1983 and has held positions as a state chapter president, a member of its national board and was the Society’s national President in 2004 and 2005.

Irwin lives outside of Portland, Maine with his wife and young son.

Jim Pumarlo
Director of communications, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce
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Bio (click to expand)

Jim Pumarlo spent 27 years working at small daily newspapers in International Falls and Red Wing, Minn. He served as editor of the Red Wing Republican Eagle for 21 years. He resigned in December 2003 and currently is director of communications at the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest business advocacy organization. He can be contacted at www.pumarlo.com.

He released a book in January 2005, “Bad News and Good Judgment: A Guide to Reporting on Sensitive Issues in a Small-Town Newspaper,” which was published by Marion Street Press in Chicago. His second book, Votes and Quotes: A Guide to Outstanding Election Campaign Coverage,” was released in May 2007.

He remains active in the newspaper industry through his consulting and speaking. He is involved in the Minnesota Newspaper Association as a member of its Journalism Education and Legislative committees. He is past president of the Minnesota Newspaper Foundation Board of Directors. He also is past chairman of the Premack Board which oversees the Frank Premack Public Affairs Journalism Award competition, one of Minnesota’s most coveted and celebrated journalism honors in public affairs reporting. He serves on the hearing panel for the Minnesota News Council, which promotes fair, vigorous and trusted journalism by engaging the news media and the public in examining standards of fairness.

Mark Scarp
Adjunct professor, Arizona State University
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Bio (click to expand)

Mark Scarp has been a journalist for nearly 25 years, writing and editing for several newspapers in the Phoenix area before starting work at what became the East Valley Tribune, based in Mesa, a city of 450,000 just southeast of Phoenix. For 9 1/2 years he was a member of the newspaper's editorial board, writing many of the newspaper's editorials as well as his own column before being laid off in January along with half the Tribune's newsroom. Since January 2008 has been adjunct professor of journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication, teaching mass communications law, journalism ethics and diversity, and news writing and reporting. In October 2009 Mark was hired as membership coordinator for the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, which that summer had moved its national headquarters to Arizona State University's journalism school. He works to build membership, raise funds and organize workshops and conferences.

Mark served six years on SPJ's national board of directors, two years on its Executive Committee and one year on its Finance Committee. After his board service, he served three years as chair of the national Membership Committee. He is also active in SPJ's Phoenix chapter, having served six terms as chapter president. He is currently programs chair. As the chapter is a member of the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona, Mark was the coalition's president from 2001-2005 and currently serves as its treasurer.

Home > Ethics > Ethics Answers > Is “Public Affairs” a Euphemism for Propaganda?

Ethics Answers
Is “Public Affairs” a Euphemism for Propaganda?

Each week, the Society of Professional Journalists’ National Ethics Committee receives dozens of requests for counsel and information concerning the Society’s Journalism Ethics Code.

SPJ does not enforce the code in the sense of sanctioning journalists and news organizations that violate it. However, the Society’s National Ethics Committee does not hesitate to identify ethical lapses in journalism and to disagree with those who have misinterpreted the code.

Committee members frequently investigate allegations of code violations and report their findings. Committee member Jerry Dunklee recently investigated a complaint lodged by a citizen who questioned the ethics of a television news segment about the Iraq War. The complaint and Dunklee’s findings are summarized here. Personally identifiable information has been removed.

The Original Complaint

Dear SPJ,

I would like to inform you about a television news segment ...

The story was the first of a two-part "Back from Iraq" sequence ... It featured a photographer for (the TV station), who was sent to Iraq as a member of the National Guard, and whose job with the Army is also as a journalist. His specific job, according to the piece, is as a "member of the mobile public affairs detachment.”

My concern is that "public affairs" is a euphemism for propaganda, and that by essentially allowing (the photographer) to use (the TV station) as an extension of his Army job, (the station) is passing on propaganda as if it were news, similar to the "fake news" or "VNRs" which have caused so much controversy.

I believe this news segment certainly violates the intent, if not the letter of the Hinchey amendment to the Transportation, Treasury, HUD Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2006, which prohibits the federal government from entering into any contracts with writers and broadcasters or public relations experts to secretly create fake news that serves as government propaganda.

According to Congressman Hinchey, "A properly functioning democracy depends on a news media that is free of any conflicts-of-interest, especially with the government that it is supposed to be holding accountable."

(The photographer featured in the segment) is introduced as "a soldier who is also a reporter.” If that is not a conflict of interest, I don't know what is.

It also violates The SPJ Code of Ethics, which clearly states: "Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know." It also states: "Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived." Being paid to promote a point of view in news stories or columns is never acceptable for ethical journalists.

The report itself is standard Bush administration propaganda, attempting to portray those who dissent with Bush policies as unpatriotic or even traitorous.

(The reporter of the segment): "Morale dips in ranks when the soldiers hear about antiwar protests back at home." (The photographer): "We are having a hard time winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people; we shouldn't have to win the hearts and minds of the American people." Both statements are voiceovers to images of local antiwar demonstrations.

I ask that you look into this matter and work with (the TV station) to improve their standards. I would hope that some corrective actions would include giving equal time to an alternative point of view ...

Dunklee’s Assessment

I have read the complaint from a viewer concerning ethics issues about a story ... I asked the viewer for a copy of the news story he felt was unethical. He sent the video to me, and I have viewed it several times.

I spoke on the phone and via e-mail with the television station’s news director. I sent a her a copy of the complaint (without the name of the viewer at the viewer’s request) and asked for her response.

The viewer said he felt the story violated the SPJ Ethics Code in two ways. He writes:

“It also violates The SPJ Code of Ethics, which clearly states: "Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know." It also states: "Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived." Being paid to promote a point of view in news stories or columns is never acceptable for ethical journalists.”

The next portion of the code states: “ Disclose unavoidable conflicts.”

It is my view that (the TV station) clearly disclosed that the subject of the story was an employee on leave from the station. The anchors said that. The reporter did as well. It is clear that the subject of the story, (a station photographer), is a soldier working as a reporter in Iraq for the Army and not reporting for (the station). (This story is one part of a two-part series on local people who are serving or have served in Iraq.)

The viewer charges that (the station) is permitting “propaganda” to be “passed off as news.” It is clear that (the photographer) has a point of view. He’s entitled to one, of course. And the reporter says in a voice over that (the photographer’s) “perspective may be colored by his job.” (The reporter) also reports that (the photographer) said “there are no simple solutions” in Iraq.

It is my view that the report did not violate the SPJ ethics code because (the station) clearly disclosed the subject’s connection to the station and pointed out that his views were his own. I don’t think the average viewer would have been confused about these issues.

The viewer asserts that the report was also a violation of law in relation to the federal government producing “fake news” or Video News Releases with tax dollars. SPJ has taken a strong position in opposition to government producing such material or news operations airing it without clear labeling. This story does not appear to be a violation of our position on government-produced news. But SPJ is not in the business of law enforcement, and alleged violations of law should be forwarded to the proper authorities.

The viewer’s complaint is articulate, and I applaud (the viewer) for following through on these concerns. The war is controversial, and a good news operation should attempt to cover all sides. I am not in a position to know if (the station) has followed this basic tenet of good journalism throughout the war. But this story does not rise to the level of a violation of the SPJ Ethics Code.

For more information about SPJ’s Code of Ethics, write to ethics@spj.org.