Radio, newspaper, and my ethics

The Chicago Tribune thing has been answered a few times on this thread already, Lugs. It's objectionable, but it's also a corporate matter far out of the control of any individual journalist. So no, I certainly wouldn't condemn anyone for taking a job at the Trib. The difference with Canzano is that it's an individual conflict of interest, one that he's voluntarily creating. This isn't two companies getting in bed together and taking the journalists along for the ride. This one is Canzano's doing.

I'd really like to see an experienced journalist we all respect, someone like Dave Kindred, come on here and address this topic. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't say, "hey, whatever, everybody does it."

 

Again, has nothing to do with the rightness of it. It goes to the cravenness of it, granted.

 

Sorry, god, you must be wrong because sportswriters will belch to the heavens that no free shirt or food or briefcase will change the way they do their jobs.

 

Sirs, Madames,

Actually, the toy department is a helluva news beat these days. But I digress.

Maybe Paul Allen and others will eventually follow the lead of the Bushies who put members of the right-wing commentariat on the payroll more stealthily than is the case with Canzano. Jeez, to think that William Nack bought it at SI for mere pocket change compared to JC. Then again, that was then and now things have mutated, er, "evolved."

YHS, etc

 

At the risk of revealing my ignorance . . . what happened to William Nack?

 

Mr Williams,

My mistake in a rush today, meant Mark Kram. His son wrote a moving memoir about his amazingly talented but troubled father. Think it was in journo-topics.

How can jc even look at the co-worker who was slapped around for the parking space thing?

If the guy had put a billboard on his roof, he could say he was parking it in the spot to promote the paper.

YHS, etc

 

Oh, it IS the toy department.

A ton of our stuff is scheduled, and stat services and online sites abound that help us.

We never have to go talk to the parents of a girl who was beheaded in a car accident five hours earlier.

Or ... thousands of such awful scenarios.

Yes, we are great at churning through high volume and being playful and quick-witted.

But we ARE the toy department.

Sorry.

 

I can't imagine how much you must cheat on your taxes.

 

One point on this...

If we're so hung up on the perception of the reader then we're really splitting hairs here. The readers will not differentiate an individual conflict from a group conflict. I think to assume otherwise is absurd.

Just one small local example - the Arizona Republic owns a piece of the Arizona Diamondbacks. There is a massive "The Arizona Republic" sign spanning the top of the scoreboard.

Its main columnist, Dan Bickley, has a morning talk show on KGME, owned by clear Channel. Its chief local competition is KMVP, owned by Pulitzer, which also owns a piece of the Diamondbacks.

So if Bickley jumps to KMVP is he now eligible for a tar and feathering for selling out his ethics? After all, Pulitzer owns the Diamondbacks.. just like his primary employer does.

Do we only excuse the Trib writers that were there prior to the purchase of the Cubs, and decide that anyone who hired in after the purchase sold out his ethics?

I certainly understand the discomfort with Canzano's radio gig, but honestly, newspaper management absolutely erased the ethical line years ago. If you have a line in your mind that you're unwilling to cross, good for you, but don't expect readers to recognize that line. It's gone.

 

I had a journalism professor in college who would tell us to be careful when selling our integrity. You can only do it once, he would say, so make sure you get a good price.

 

I'd say $80K is a pretty good price. Especially if you're getting free blumpkins.

 

That is a pretty rationalization... being on the same ethical plane as upper (and decidedly non-editorial) management.