Our political Quote of the Day comes from Dick Polman, commenting on MSNBC’s suspension (which will be lifted) of Keith Olbermann for donating to three Democratic candidates in the recent mid-term elections:
The bottom line is that journalism takes many forms today; the ethics rules need to become more nuanced in order to reflect that reality. With respect to the commentating wing of the profession, total transparency might be the best tonic.
For instance, I happen to be a faithful reader of conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. Would I stop reading him if I heard that he gave money to some Republican candidates? Not a chance. Over on Fox News, Sean Hannity actually has given money to the GOP, most notably to Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann. So what? I would expect him to pony up. I watch him anyway, just to see how he’s framing the news. If it is revealed some day that he’s giving money to Sarah Palin, how is that a “conflict of interest,” given the fact that he has already behaved as her obsequious courtier, as far back as 2008?
Personally, I have never donated a dime to any political candidate; that’s just me, still under sway to the old-school rules that prevailed when I was a cub reporter. But Olbermann, Hannity, Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan and other professional opiners should be free to exercise their rights as citizens – and they should feel free to disclose their donations to their audiences. I doubt that anyone would be shocked to discover that their donations are in sync with their views. The journalistic game has changed, and the rules need to be tweaked accordingly.
And, indeed, the journalism game has changed. Opinion-based journalism was once considered somehow unseemly. Now it seems to be fact-based journalism that tries to present both sides that seems to be in decline. The entire news biz has been transformed by changing tastes, the political/entertainment culture, and the economy: newspapers downsize and gut staffs….broadcast networks close down bureaus… most broadcast and cable news now seem to have roots more in radio talk than in WWII wire services or early TV broadcast news.
Within this context, as Polman notes, it’s no shock to see such donations or to learn that Sean Hannity wants a Republican to win or Keith Olbermann is rooting for a Democrat. The context is different..and the journalistic world is different. The issue is whether old standards are worth adhering to or as out of date as the pay telephone.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.