60 Minutes, Gingrich Conflicts Helped Spark Major Journalism Group's Ethics (cough) Code Overhaul

[deminks]

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/09/09/60-minutes-gingrich-conflicts-helped-spark-majo/200696



The Society of Professional Journalists, the "leading professional association of working journalists," overhauled its Code of Ethics to include new transparency provisions partly in response to 60 Minutes' Benghazi debacle and CNN's failure to disclose Newt Gingrich's political ties, the group's ethics chair said Monday.

He also cited Washington Post columnist George Will's failure to disclose his ties to conservative group Americans for Prosperity as the type of conflict of interest journalists should seek to avoid.

(snip)

The idea of transparency makes a debut in this code. Although this code does not abdicate the principle of being independent of conflicts that may compromise integrity or damage credibility, it does note more strongly that when these conflicts can't be avoided, it is imperative that journalists make every effort to be transparent about their actions.

(snip)

Smith said Washington Post columnist George Will attending a private VIP dinner hosted by the Koch-backed conservative group Americans for Prosperity after spending months using his columns to champion the candidates and ideas favored by the Koch brothers and refusing to disclose whether his participation was paid was one of the "most noted examples" of recent transparency failures.

(end snip)

[gratuitous]

1. Just try watching that 60 Minutes segment again

Knowing that Lara Logan and Dylan Davies were reading lines like it was a potboiler script: "After scaling the wall, I approached the window of the compound and looked in." "What did you see?" [Voice catches] "Dead bodies."

Every word - including "the" and "of" - from start to finish was a total fabrication. 60 Minutes didn't vet the interview, and CBS thought it was good television, so on the air it went. After the truth came out, Logan took a little eight month vacation, but she was back in the saddle again soon enough. Presumably she'll be a little more careful about any lies she broadcasts while picking up her hefty paycheck.

Ethics. As if.