Tag Archives: Ethics
New Chinese biz reporters barred from covering markets
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Chinese business journalists must have either worked in securities and futures organizations or covered finance and economics for at least two years before they can report on securities and futures, with interns banned from reporting on such matters, according to a story in the Global Times, a Chinese paper.
Ji Beibei and Jin Jianyu write, “The regulations were issued to protect the legitimate interests of investors and the public, according to the GAPP statement, and urged print media to ‘exert caution’ when covering news that may undermine market stability.
“They urged media to verify the authenticity of important policies and information about regulatory bodies.
“Furthermore, the print media are asked to check whether advertisers are qualified securities and futures information service providers before accepting their advertisements for software and information service products.
“‘Misleading business reporting could cause huge losses to investors,’ Yu Guoming, a media expert at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times. ‘Raising the threshold for business reporters will help reduce the chances of journalists being involved in insider trading and improve the credibility of business coverage.’”
Read more here.
Does new top editor in Cincinnati bode ill for daily's biz coverage?
by Chris Roush
Kevin Osborne, the news editor of Cincinnati CityBeat, writes about the ramifications of the hiring of Carolyn Washburn, formerly the editor of the Idaho Statesman, to be the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer does not result in any confidence for the future of its business coverage.
Osborne writes that during her tenure, “The Statesman was criticized for being too deferential to Micron Technologies, one of the largest employers in Boise, Idaho.
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) wrote in 2001: ‘The Idaho Statesman has a curious definition of ‘fact checking.’ The business editor of the Gannett-owned daily, Jim Bartimo, resigned when he was told that a story he had worked on about Micron Technologies, the area’s largest employer, had to be sent for pre-publication ‘review’… to Micron Technologies.’
“Previously The Statesman‘s business news practices were examined by The Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz, in articles from January and February 2000. Kurtz’s article revealed that The Statesman reporter covering the Micron beat was married to a Micron employee.
“When Kurtz asked Washburn about the paper’s Micron coverage and whether it was afraid to be too critical, she replied, ‘It’s not that it has anything to do with their being the biggest employer. What we write can affect a lot of people in this community. It can affect the stock price.’”
Read more here. Washburn was a business reporter and business editor of the Lansing State Journal in Michigan from 1984 to 1987 and a business reporter and business editor at the Times-Union in Rochester, N.Y. from 1987 to 1991.
Biz journalists who take gifts at the Consumer Electronics Show
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Robert MacMillan, an editor at Reuters, called up the PR person for Line2, which is offering reporters a car and driver to get to appointments at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, among other gifts.
Here is how the conversation went:
I called the press agent, Lois Whitman. She never asks for an interview of her client in return for the freebies, I should add. Whether that’s implied, I cannot say.
Me: Have any journalists taken you up on the car and driver offer?
Lois: I would love you to.
Me: I’m not going to CES. But has anyone else?
Lois: Just a few.
Me: What are their names? Who do they work for?
Lois: I don’t have my list right in front of me.
Me: A lot of news outlets wouldn’t let journalists do this because of their ethics policies about taking gifts.
Lois: What we really wanted to do… It’s very difficult to get press appointments here… (phone line cuts out)… been to every Consumer Electronics Show since the beginning. This client wants (phone line cuts out again). Hello? Are you there? Hello?
Read more here.
Reuters posting releases on editorial feed
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Reuters is now distributing press releases of its parent company’s corporate clients in its editorial feed to Yahoo! Finance, according to Dominic Jones of IR Web Report.
Jones writes, “The development appears to run counter to the Reuters Trust Principles, a set of standards designed to safeguard the respected global newswire’s editorial independence from Thomson Reuters Corporation’s commercial interests.
“One of the five principles states: ‘That Thomson Reuters shall supply unbiased and reliable news services to newspapers, news agencies, broadcasters and other media subscribers and to businesses governments, institutions, individuals and others with whom Thomson Reuters has or may have contracts.’
“However, the Reuters news feed delivered to Yahoo! Finance now includes complete, unedited press releases from Thomson Reuters’ corporate clients in amongst Reuters news articles. Press releases of non-Thomson Reuters clients are not being distributed to Yahoo! Finance. The press release headlines are virtually indistinguishable from the newswire’s editorial content.”
Read more here.
Feud continues between Salmon and Gasparino
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Alex Schiff of Benzinga reports that the comments made by Fox Business Network‘s Charles Gasparino that he was not given a chance to respond to a post by Reuters blogger Felix Salmon before it was posted has been met with a reply by Salmon.
Schiff writes, “As I had done the interview with Charlie and an earlier interview with Felix Salmon, Felix emailed me to get his side out.
“‘Gasparino has a standing invitation to respond in as much detail and at as much length as he likes, with the response appearing on that particular blog entry, or elsewhere on my blog, or on his blog, or anywhere he wants,’ Felix wrote. ‘So far, he has consistently refused to say anything on the record about the incident in question.’
“Charlie was unable to be reached for a response.
“What’s interesting to me about this debate is the degree to which the lines between traditional journalism and the blogosphere are blurring. Consider, for example, Andrew Ross Sorkin’s Dealbook. While it is typically referred to as a blog (it even won a Webby Award for Best Business Blog in 2007 and an EPpy Award for Best Business Blog in 2008), it breaks news nearly as frequently as any other section of the New York Times — does that make Sorkin a blogger or journalist? I don’t think anyone that listened to my interview with him a few months ago could say he’s not a journalist, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
Read more here.
Covering the ethics, or lack thereof, in banking
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Rick Thames, the editor of the Charlotte Observer, writes Sunday about how the paper’s business news desk has been covering the thorny issue of ethics in the banking industry.
Thames writes, “The ethics factor has been on the radar of the Observer’s business news team for quite a while.
“‘The various hearings and numerous settlements, lawsuits and civil charges alleging fraud cried out for an examination of the behavior of individual bankers,’ said Observer Business Editor Patrick Scott. ‘Mostly, executives spoke only in passive terms that ‘mistakes were made’ and the industry as a whole got off track. There was little soul-searching on display.’
“Scott and his team decided to take on the topic as the fourth installment of our series, ‘Banktown: Two years after the meltdown.’
“Earlier installments assessed the impact of the banking meltdown on Charlotte and explored efforts to rebuild the city as more than just a financial center. You can read the entire series at CharlotteObserver.com/business.
“Banking reporter Christina Rexrode tackled the installment on ethics, which appeared last Sunday. It proved particularly difficult. For one thing, little has been written or said about this issue, even nationally. There were no reports, seminars or studies to rely on.”
Read more here.
Paying energy reporters for their opinion
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Paul Farhi of The Washington Post writes Friday about how a research firm has been paying reporters who cover the energy industry for their opinions.
Farhi writes, “The firm, PFC Opinion Research, is rounding up reporters and editors who cover the energy sector to opine about ‘certain aspects of oil and gas industries,’ as an e-mail sent this week to journalists, including several at The Washington Post, described it.
“PFC promises to pay participating journalists ‘in cash’ and to keep everyone’s name on the down low, which means the recipients can hide the proceeds from their employers and the pesky tax collectors.
“The company calls its cash offer an ‘honorarium.’ But at least one journalism ethics expert has another name for it: dubious.
“‘If this doesn’t raise an ethical red flag, nothing will,’ said Stephen Ward, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin. By moonlighting for the companies and industries they cover, he notes, reporters risk compromising their independence and neutrality and leave themselves open to suspicions of being bribed.”
Read more here.
Bloomberg editorial effort presents conflict-of-interest questions
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Jeremy Peters of the New York Times writes Thursday about the new editorial and commentary effort at Bloomberg called Bloomberg View and how it might affect New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Peters writes, “The effort presents a host of conflict-of-interest questions for the mayor. The new venture provides the mayor with yet another potent communications apparatus — one that carries his name and imprimatur — to sound off on issues that collide with his job as mayor, his corporate interests and his expanding philanthropic empire.
“Bloomberg L.P. executives said they would not shy away from publishing editorials on issues in which Mr. Bloomberg has a direct interest as mayor, like education, public health and environmental policy. Mr. Winkler said the editorials would not avoid such issues but would disclose the mayor’s involvement when warranted.
“Though Mr. Bloomberg will not have a hand in conceiving and writing the editorials, he is likely to offer feedback from time to time before they are published, Mr. Winkler said.
“‘I think that there’s a very good chance that’s going to happen,’ he said, referring to Mr. Bloomberg’s occasional involvement. It is unclear whether that level of involvement is permitted under his agreement with the city to remain at arm’s length from the company.”
Read more here.
Transparency at All Things Digital
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Michele McLellan of the Knight Digital Media Center writes about the excellent ethics disclosure at All Things Digital, the tech site run by The Wall Street Journal.
McLellan writes, “Each AllThingsD writer (plus a few other staffers) has penned his or her own ethics statement. There, they attempt to clarify issues that people might raise regarding their personal ethics or biases. AllThingsD makes these statements easy to find, via each contributor’s section of the site, or via their respective “about” pages.
“What I like about these statements is that they aren’t cookie-cutter corpspeak or legalese. They’re human — and even humorous — revelations. Each writer gets to decide which topics she or he wants to cover, and how. This can get pretty personal, and that’s a good thing.
“For example, check out the ethics statements of the site’s co-executive editor Kara Swisher. Like many of the site’s ethics statements, it begins with this preamble: ‘Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.’
“Swiftly, this statement veers into controversial personal territory.”
Read more here.
Bloomberg View's new digs
by Chris Roush
Jeff Bercovici of Forbes writes Thursday about the new Bloomberg View opinion operation, pointing out that it will be housed in the same building as Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropy.
“A Bloomberg spokesman said this was a simple matter of necessity. ‘We are having real space constraints in our New York newsroom as we continue to grow,’ he says. (Bloomberg reportedly occupies about 700,000 square feet in the 55-story tower.) ‘They’ll be able to work in both the offices at 731 Lexington and the offices on East 78th street.’
“But two Bloomberg insiders who told Forbes about the unusual arrangement said there was more to it. One insider described it as a way around the conflict-of-interest rules that force the mayor to keep a careful distance from the day-to-day management of the company. ‘His interaction with the company is so highly regulated,’ says one source with knowledge of the situation. ‘This enables Mike to meet with them, talk to them, have influence over what they write.’”
Read more here.