Just when you thought media’s attitude on ethics left a bad taste in your mouth, The New York Post’s Page Six came along and dosed a spoonful of arsenic.
This weekend, the Daily News (who else?) broke the story that Page Six lackey Jared Paul Stern met with billionaire recluse Ron Burkle to strike a $220,000 deal that made the investor immune from printed lies on the page for a year.
Wait. Struck a deal? Illegal. Printed lies? Unethical. Recluse? Fantastical.
Now, as the FBI and Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office give Rupert Murdoch’s baby the shakedown, allegations that fellow columnist Richard Johnson was rubbing elbows (more?) with Girls Gone Wild chief Joe Francis, letting the guy throw him bachelor parties infused with, well, you know.
Oh, calamity.
Now, I really don’t care if gossip writers hang with porn kings, because hey, that’s their job. But when we’ve got some serious violations of journalistic ethics (oh, and federal law), the whole industry is at risk. But more importantly, the individual journalist. Sure, it was the Post, and to a degree we can write it off as another hijink by those crazy Page Six-ers trying to stay on top. But when this is the best defense the paper’s got, we should take pause:
Asked whether such gratuities violate the Post's ethics guidelines, Rubenstein said, "The paper has no response." (Daily News)
Uh oh. In my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with schmoozing - just make sure your paperwork is in order before you submit yourself to a full-scale audit.
Ivan Pereira @ Tue, 04/11/2006 - 3:36pm
I totally agree with you Andrew. Some people out there feel that this is an attack on the "right-wing" Post and its famed "Page Six," but no matter what your views on politics and the news are, if you bribe someone, you're a cheat.
I don't think this type of behavior is rampant around the journalism world, but the few cases of it happening should be exposed in the same manner as Stern's ongoing scandal. Bottom line: No mercy for the cheaters in journalism.