By Bob Steele
Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values
Dozens of time every year, I get a call or e-mail from a journalist or a newsroom leader who's wrestling with an issue involving possible conflict of interest. It's one of the most common ethical challenges in our profession.
Sometimes, these matters are high profile. The New York Times public editor, Clark Hoyt, wrote about the intersection of public and private lives in his January 20th column.
He posed this intriguing question: "What do you do when a journalist's spouse or lover is also a newsmaker?" and focused on the paper's Supreme Court reporter, Linda Greenhouse, and the intersection of her work with that of her husband, an expert on military law.
Hoyt interviewed me for his column, and in thinking through the Greenhouse case I wrote down some broader thoughts that apply to all journalists and news organizations, not just the superstars. I focused on loyalties, the root of relationships and the potential trigger for the conflicts.
All journalists have competing loyalties. These are intersections of their professional roles and personal lives. Relationships with family or very close friends can lead to promises made, secrets kept and obligations made. These understandable and inescapable personal loyalties can, however, create tension with the journalist's professional duty and ethical responsibilities.
Journalists have the unique and essential role of seeking the truth and reporting it as fully as possible. That primary duty is partly built on the principle of independence. Journalists should not allow undue influence from others or their own self interest to erode the independence that could in turn corrode the integrity of the journalism.
Conflicts of interest can undermine independence. Individual journalists and their news organizations must constantly manage competing loyalties to make sure they don't evolve into problematic conflicts of interest.
Managing competing loyalties means anticipating, identifying and addressing the points of tension so that routine potholes don't turn into huge pitfalls. The journalists and their supervisors can consider a range of alternatives in managing the competing loyalties.
It's always important to anticipate and recognize the potential intersections of the professional and personal and make sure that the integrity of the journalism is not adversely impacted. That requires ongoing discussions, probing questions, and sound checks and balances in the editing process to surface any concerns.
So, what's the remedy when competing loyalties cannot be managed and a conflict of interest is apparent? In some cases, it might be necessary for the journalist to recuse himself from certain stories where the personal loyalties and the professional role intersect. To turn over a particular story to a colleague.
In some cases, it may be necessary for the journalist to change reporting assignments or beats to stay completely away from any coverage of someone with whom the journalist has a significant competing loyalty.
And, in some cases, the journalist (or the other family member involved in the competing loyalty) might choose to leave a professional position in order to fully honor the personal loyalty and to remove a professional conflict of interest.
What about disclosure of a competing loyalty? Is that a sufficient remedy? Yes and no. Disclosure is one form of transparency. Disclosure informs and alerts other stakeholders (readers, for instance, or those involved in the stories the reporter is covering) of the competing loyalty. It allows other stakeholders to be aware of and scrutinize the disclosed competing loyalty and raise a red flag if they see a conflict of interest.
Disclosure reveals and shines light. But this form of transparency must be accompanied by accountability. The journalist and the news organization must commit to an ongoing process of examination and oversight to make sure that a manageable competing loyalty does not grow into a problematic conflict of interest.
