PressEthic

An interesting story in the 16 October 2006 New York Times profiles White House Press Secretary Tony Snow's efforts to raise money for Republicans via speaking appearances at $100+ per plate fundraising dinners. The story notes that Snow is scheduled to make 16 appearances in the next few weeks before Election Day.

Snow admits that he's the first White House press secretary to "raise money for political candidates while in the job," but argues that such appearances don't interfere with his official duties.

But Jim Axelrod, CBS News chief White House correspondent, is quoted taking issue with this position. Axelrod points to a recent fundraiser appearance that actually caused Snow to miss a day of work at a critical time when a leading Republican senator had just criticized the president's Iraq policy.

More subtly, as David R. Gergen, a former member of the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, points out -- Snow's fundraising appearances (described as a "cross between a one-man show and a religious revival") dangerously blur "'the lines between politics and news and entertainment.'" But former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer counters this accusation, arguing that these lines "blurred long ago." Fleischer cynically calls the modern-day White House press briefings a "'TV Show,'" which feature Snow as "'the star.'"

Perhaps the more crucial issues at stake involve Snow's role as both an advocate on behalf of the press for the release of news and as a credible source of information for reporters covering the Bush administration and its policies. Here the NYT story takes aim at the ethical conflicts created by Snow's freelance fundraising endeavors. Indeed, the story directly states that "Mr. Snow's extracurricular activites are making some veteran Washington hands, including those with strong Republican ties, deeply uneasy."

This unequivocal statement is bolstered by a quote from Gergen, who argues that "'the principle job of the press secretary is to present information to reporters, not propaganda. If [Snow] is seen as wearing two hats, reporters as well as the public will inevitably wonder: is he speaking to us now as the traditional press secretary, or is he speaking to us as a political partisan?'"

Former Reagan Chief of Staff Kenneth J. Duberstein reinforces this point: "'[Snow's] profile should not be a political profile, but a press profile on behlf of the president.'" Duberstein cautioned that Snow must "be careful" not to damage his credibility with reporters.

These are valid points. Just as other members of the media must tread cautiously in the arena of ethics, so Snow must realize that even the mere appearance of a conflict of interest can be just as damaging as the most grievous ethical transgression.

Understood. End of media ethics lecture, right? Not so fast.

As if to play devil's advocate to itself, the story concedes that "press secretaries are naturally partisans" who must serve not only the press but also the president. If this is the case, can we hold Snow to the same standards of ethical impartiality that govern the work of journalists?

Snow offers a surprisingly direct answer: in his position, he emphasizes, "'not all masters are equal.'"

It's an ominous statement that hints at the reality of a White House press operation in which the president's political interests trump both the public's right to know and the press's ability to serve as an effective government watchdog.