Fair price?

In my experience, that's what anyone says when they run into an ethical problem: It's OK because it's me; I can't be bought.

One thing to consider is even if it's OK with your current boss, will it be OK with your next one? You'll have crossed that line and there's not really any going back. One of my heroes in the biz cleaned out a newsroom in the 1970s of old-timers who were accepting gifts from politicians. It's not like he told them to stop and the slate would be scrubbed clean -- they were already dirty and he didn't trust them.

 

I haven't "been bought."
The news story was a legitimate news/business story, written as such.
The profile was written, but it has not appeared anywhere and no money has changed hands.

 

Putting aside the ethical problems some may have with this, I see some other things that raise red flags ...

1) You pitched the story to your assignment editor, and after nothing happened for a few days, you did it without being assigned the story ... with the main subject someone who, depending on when you post about him, is either a friend or someone you have some sort of working relationship with. Did you follow up with the assignment editor, or just go ahead with the story when they weren't moving fast enough for your liking? Did you tell your bosses about you and this subject knowing each other to some degree? Is there no one else who you could have given the story to, someone who doesn't know this subject as well as you do (however well that may be)?

2) It sounds like you didn't clear it through your bosses that you would be writing this additional piece for this trade magazine. Shouldn't that have been your first inquiry after this friend/subject of the story asked for the trade magazine piece? What are your bosses going to say when they see the story in the trade magazine? Are you using your own byline?

I'm not trying to give a lesson on ethics, but these are pretty big questions that you apparently didn't even think of discussing with the people who signs your paychecks. It's surprising that someone who has been in the business 30 years didn't see any problem with any of this. I would expect a college journalism student to see those problems from Day 1.

That's to say nothing of writing a 3,100-word piece for a trade magazine, and the 30-year veteran doesn't bother to get the payment details settled before he starts work on it. That's what makes me think this is a good friend, you just said, "We'll figure it out, buddy" and then backtracked when people started asking about writing profiles on a friend of yours. If it truly is just a guy you know and are cordial with through your work, I can't fathom why neither of you would want the details and pay info spelled out beforehand.