PressEthic

On 27 December 2006, the Lowell Sun will publish a special supplement to mark local Congressman Marty Meehan's 50th birthday. Already, this sounds a bit too cozy for comfort. But what's more, a portion of the advertising revenues generated by the special section will be donated to the Marty Meehan Educational Foundation. Since when do newspapers enter into business deals with the politicians they cover?

In the 23 November 2006 installment of his weekly blog, Robert X. Cringley argues that Craigslist is the online culprit responsible for the death of the daily newspaper era. Could that darling of online democracy be responsible for such a complex phenomenon?

The Chicago Cubs baseball team and the Los Angeles Times are both owned by the Tribune Company. So how is it that the Cubs, who finished last in the National League this year, received millions of dollars for player salaries, while the Pulitzer Prize-winning LAT languished amid looming staff cuts that led to the recent departures of both the editor and publisher?

Martha McCallum's post-election coverage was right on message -- that is, the message dictated in an 8 November memo outlining how to spin the election results, which was issued by Fox's VP of News.

An Illinois jury recently awarded damages to the chief justice of the Illinois State Supreme Court, who sued a local newspaper for damaging his reputation in a column. But when the head of a state's judiciary is the plaintiff and unidentified sources are involved, is it really just a simple case of libel?

Will Business 2.0's new blogging project, which compensates staff reporters according to their blogs' traffic, encourage reporters to chase sensational stories and engage in less-than-desirable tactics to generate increased hits?

In Racine, Wisconsin, a local newspaper squares off against a local business leader over the language contained in a headline.

When The Spokane Spokesman-Review publicly aired internal deliberations on whether or not to cover a controversial story about an Idaho public figure's sexual orientation, the paper effectively publicized the story before it had even been officially reported. Is this ethical and responsible? And anyway -- since when is sexual orientation newsworthy?

What media-related checks and balances govern the general manager for two TV stations in Bangor, Maine, who banned the broadcast of global warming stories?

Boston Globe union leaders recently sought support from Massachusetts politicians and union officials in an effort to bolster opposition against proposed staff and spending cuts. But if one good turn deserves another, what are the implications for future Globe coverage of the unions and politicians who came to the union's aid?

The Hartford CBS affiliate WFSB-TV has barred reporters from all other news outlets from the upcoming debate among the candidates in Connecticut's hotly contested Senate race. Moreover, the debate will be "embargoed" for 27 hours before being broadcast to viewers, leaving time for candidates to formulate more effective post-debate spin strategies. This begs the question: what's more important -- the content of the debate itself, or the way in which the media broadcasts it to viewers/voters?

No White House press secretary had ever raised money for political candidates -- until Tony Snow entered the GOP fundraising circuit. What are the ethical implications of this bold move?

In a 6 October 2006 LA Times Opinion Page column, Kirk O. Hanson, Executive Director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, and Jerry Ceppos, former Vice President/News of Knight Ridder and former Executive Editor of the San Jose Mercury News, present four easy steps for evaluating the ethical pros and cons of leaking. But are journalistic ethics really so simple?

CNN's new Events Division (a recent addition to the Advertising Sales Department) will now offer sponsorship opportunities for "panels, conferences and meetings on newsmaking and newsworthy subjects," which will feature CNN's reporters and anchors serving as speakers and moderators. But not to worry -- the network asserts that conflicts of interest won't be an issue.

A review of a 2001 article, commissioned by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, in order to analyze codes of ethics at 33 ASNE member newspapers.