Media-Ethics Issues Prominent in Reports from World Press
Jan 12th, 2009 • Posted in: NewsIraq wants reporters to sign ethics pledge; proposed nomination of TV reporter as U.S. surgeon general raises ethics questions; new business model for PR firm raises ire of media ethicist
VARIOUS DATELINES
The week’s top stories about ethics and media covered a range of issues from upcoming Iraq elections to U.S. government appointments. Among the stories:
- Iraq is insisting that foreign and Iraqi journalists sign a code of conduct if they want to attend provincial elections scheduled for later this month. The Associated Press reports that parts of the 14-page code require “balanced” coverage and bar stories on candidates two days before the election. While news organizations are reported to be studying the document, there is widespread concern that the code is a method to censor the news and would undermine independent media coverage.
- The proposed appointment of a physician/TV news reporter as U.S. surgeon general has provoked some ethics debate. The CBC reports that while CNN reporter Sanjay Gupta has solid medical credentials — he’s a practicing neurosurgeon — some are questioning whether he has enough public policy experience. Moreover, the New Scientist reports that questions have been raised about his connections to the drug industry, particularly his relationship with a firm that supplies television programming to doctors’ waiting rooms. While the issue plays out, CNN has removed Gupta from covering any political stories.
- A noted media ethics professor says a new PR firm launched by former MSNBC anchor Dan Abrams “skates on the thinnest of ice when it comes to fundamental principles governing conflict of interest.” In an opinion piece published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Edward Wasserman, Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, says Abrams Research “will offer qualified and well-connected journalists lucrative off-screen engagements with private entities that need a hand with their media relations — managing a PR crisis, positioning a product rollout, fashioning a new sports sponsorship.” Wasserman says his larger concern is that the business model of the Abrams firm, “though ethically problematic, accurately reflects the professional realities of the new media world…. More and more, wage-earners in the knowledge industries are odd-jobbing as journalists, teachers, marketers, publicists, or all of the above. Moonlighting is no longer an income supplement, it’s a career path, conducted amid an unavoidable potential for conflicts of interest.”
Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 9 — New Scientist, Jan. 9 — CBC, Jan. 9 — ABC News, Jan. 9 — AP, Jan. 9.
For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Jan. 5 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 24, 2008 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 24, 2008 — Related Newsline Commentary, Nov. 17, 2008 — Related Newsline story, Oct. 6, 2008.
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