PressEthic

When "60 Minutes" interviewed Michael Jordan the other night, the majority of viewers just shrugged. Sure, the former basketball great recently wrote a book, but what's newsworthy about that?

Nothing, actually. As a recap of the program shows, Jordan mainly spoke about such topics as his yen for competition, love of golf, and dismay over the way he was treated in his last two years for the Washington Wizards organization, topics far from groundbreaking to anyone who has followed him over the years. So why did "60 Minutes," one of the most respected news outfits in the business, run such a segment?

Well, Altria, the publisher of Jordan's upcoming book, "The Winner Within," is a sister company of Simon & Schuster, which is owned by Viacom (owner of CBS, which broadcasts "60 Minutes"). If Jordan's story was in any way newsworthy, such a practice wouldn't necessarily mean that "60 Minutes" was being unethical. However, after being subjected to the unwatchable lovefest last Sunday night, I'm dubious that that the award-winning program would have aired the segment -- which is much more appropriate on a "Oprah" or "Leno" entertainment show -- if Jordan's book was published by a rival company.

With the Judith Miller scandal, the 2,000th soldier recently dying in Iraq, natural disasters erupting around the country and the world, and countless other controversies, "60 Minutes" could have focused their resources on a story that illuminated issues and educated its audience, not losing a single viewer in the process. Instead, they wasted their valuable air time pimping a retired basketball star's new book.