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Ethics Controversies Becoming Focus of U.S. Presidential Campaign

Jun 2nd, 2008 • Posted in: News

Obama quits church after another dust-up about a sermon; Clinton lashed for Kennedy remark; McCain struggles with lobbyist issue; and former vice-presidential candidate calls for independent study of media ethics in election coverage

WASHINGTON
Ethics issues rose to the top of the news mix last week in coverage of the U.S. presidential campaign. Among the stories:

• Likely Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, at the center of an ethics controversy over inflammatory remarks by two pastors, resigned from his Chicago-based church over the weekend. ABC News reports that the final break came after the latest remarks, by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest, in which he mocked Obama’s rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, implying that she feels entitled to the nomination because she is white. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama said he is not denouncing the church, but decided to leave because he did not want to subject his pastors and parishioners to continued tension and scrutiny.
• Hillary Clinton also found herself in the midst of an ethics controversy last week over her remarks about the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Clinton had stated that it would be unwise for her to halt her campaign prematurely, citing the fact that Kennedy was shot late in the primary season. Clinton was criticized widely for the remark, which brought to the fore fears concerning possible threats to Barack Obama. Clinton later apologized for the comment. Obama himself said too much was being made of the matter, noting that stressful campaigning often causes candidates to misedit their comments. Many Clinton supporters thought too much was made of the matter, accusing the press of being “more concerned with being interesting and provocative than relevant or serious,” according to CBS News reporter John F. Harris.
• Lobbying, a topic that consistently has produced ethics-related news over the past several years, is now a topic of controversy in the campaign of presumptive GOP nominee John McCain. Bloomberg reports that McCain recently lost five aides “amid suggestions that his campaign is dominated by lobbyists.” In the most recent instance, McCain fired two top campaign officials when he learned that they had worked as lobbyists for the military dictatorship in Myanmar.
• Former Democratic vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro last week called for an independent study of racism and sexism in the media. Ferraro, a Hillary Clinton supporter who has been criticized for her recent remarks claiming sexism against Clinton, used an op-ed piece in the Boston Globe to call for a Harvard University probe of “first, whether either the Clinton or Obama campaign engaged in sexism and racism; second, whether the media treated Clinton fairly or unfairly; and third whether certain members of the media crossed an ethical line when they changed the definition of journalist from reporter and commentator to strategist and promoter of a candidate. And if they did to suggest ethical guidelines which the industry might adopt.”

Sources: ABC News, June 1 — Chicago Sun-Times, June 1 — Bloomberg, May 31 — Boston Globe, May 30 — CBS News, May 27.

For more information, see: Related Newsline Commentary, May 12 — Related Newsline Commentary, Apr. 14 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 10 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 25 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 25.

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2 Responses »

1. Ethics Newsline » News » Media Begins Handicapping Ethical Issues in Obama-McCain Match-up on June 9th, 2008 at 8:29 pm:

   [...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, June 2 — Related Newsline story, May 12 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 14 [...]

2. Ethics Newsline » News » Charges of Bias, Deception, and Discrimination Featured in Press-Ethics Reports on June 16th, 2008 at 8:34 pm:

   [...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, June 2 — Related Newsline story, May 19 — Related Newsline story, Apr. 14 [...]

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