Essayist ponders whether journalists in disaster area help or just report; activist who went after ACORN in trouble over phone tampering incident; CBS set to change policy and allow controversial ad in Super Bowl

VARIOUS DATELINES
A range of media ethics stories made headlines last week. Among them:

• The limits of journalists’ involvement in stories about emergencies and disasters were discussed in a piece published last week by the Philadelphia Inquirer. University of Pittsburgh journalism professor Steve Hallock noted that current coverage from Haiti has featured three broadcast journalists who are also physicians treating the injured and ill. Hallock observed: “…Does doing a doctor’s work detract from the mission of journalism? Media ethicists correctly argue that journalists’ participation in war or crime-fighting — as “embedded” correspondents or on ride-alongs with police — taints their perceived independence from the armies or law enforcement agencies they are covering. But a different argument arises when journalists use their expertise in other fields to help them tell a more thorough and knowledgeable story…. Many journalists have degrees in fields such as law, economics, art, and architecture that enable them to offer more informed coverage in those areas. It would be difficult to argue that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman’s other job, as a Princeton economics and international affairs professor, detracts from his ability to offer knowledgeable commentary on the federal budget — or that the late Los Angeles Times jazz critic Leonard Feather’s views on a performance were compromised because he was also a noted composer of jazz music.” While acknowledging the inherent difficulties, Hallock concludes that doctors who perform surgery at the scene of a disaster also can report responsibly, arguing that this is “not situational ethics so much as it’s simply coming down, in this particular potential conflict of interest, in favor of our membership in the human race.”
• James O’Keefe, the activist who staged the sting that embarrassed ACORN, is in hot water himself after being arrested for allegedly tampering with the phones in the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) of Louisiana. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the circumstances surrounding the alleged intrusion remain unclear: Some speculate that O’Keefe allegedly was attempting to disable the phones to demonstrate that Landrieu’s staff never returned calls anyway and would not report the outage. The events prompted criticism from conservatives who had applauded O’Keefe’s efforts in the past, writes the Monitor: “[M]any conservatives who had lauded O’Keefe’s work on the ACORN story — in which he showed that some workers of the left-leaning community organizing group were willing to help prostitutes avoid taxes — distanced themselves from the video-producer…. Michelle Malkin said O’Keefe got ‘carried away.’ Fox News commentator Glenn Beck said O’Keefe had entered ‘Watergate territory.’”
• CBS will allow an advocacy commercial to air during the Super Bowl, a change in tradition and policy from previous years, reports National Public Radio. As this issue of Newsline went to press, the spot, which features an anti-abortion message from Florida Gators college quarterback Tim Tebow, was scheduled to run during what traditionally has been regarded as a family event where new, often entertaining, commercials were unveiled while politically controversial commercials were rejected. CBS now says it will accept advocacy ads that are produced “reasonably.”

Sources: Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 29 — Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 29 — NPR, Jan. 27.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Jan. 25 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 11 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 4 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 4 — Related Newsline story, Dec. 21, 2009.