WHEN ETHICS GET SILLY

If you work for the Miami Herald you're advised not to attend rock concerts that are politically oriented, but if you are Tom Brokaw (or Dan Rather or Judy Woodruff or...) you can chow down (for free) on "lobster salad, loin of lamb, assorted wines, creme brulee, lemon souffle and French tarts" to help Republican Sen. John McCain celebrate his birthday.

Sheesh.

PJNet Today delivers the goods under the headline A Contrast in Ethical Standards or Lack Thereof.

Leonard Witt reprints part of a memo from Miami Herald executive editor Tim Fiedler:

The money generated by ticket sales to many events [he specifically cites a Bruce Springsteen concert] will be earmarked directly or indirectly to groups whose mission is to influence the outcome of the election. As you know and understand, it is improper for independent journalists — which we are — to engage in partisan politics or to advocate for political causes...My advice: Unless you are covering one of these partisan events as a working journalist, stay away.

Witt then turns his attention to McCain's party, citing a Washington Post report:

Sen. John McCain tended to his political base Sunday night: the entire national media. The maverick Arizona Republican, once (and future?) presidential aspirant and press secretary's dream hosted a hyper-exclusive 68th birthday party for himself at La Goulue on Madison Avenue, leaving no media icon behind. Guests included NBC's Tom Brokaw and Tim Russert, ABC's Peter Jennings, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel and George Stephanopoulos, CBS's Mike Wallace, Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer, CBS News President Andrew Heyward, ABC News chief David Westin, Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons, CNN's Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, CNBC's Gloria Borger, PBS's Charlie Rose — pause here to exhale — and U.S. News & World Report publisher Mort Zuckerman, Washington Post Chairman Don Graham, New York Times columnists William Safire and David Brooks, author Michael Lewis and USA Today columnist Walter Shapiro.

Oh did we mention it was an off the record session.

And, Witt continues, there is this, also from the Washington Post:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg hosted a welcoming party for the media Saturday night at the dazzling new Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle, with the company picking up the $1.5 million tab. A jazz band performed as journalists cruised the restaurant booths offering sashimi, monkfish, spring rolls, bratwurst, penne with vodka sauce, pork dumplings, cookies, eclairs and the aforementioned creme brulee. Hugo Boss, Benetton, Sephora, J. Crew and other shops remained open for the guests.

Again, sheesh.

Let's parse this: if I work for the Miami Herald, I can't go see Springsteen, on my own time, because he's raising money that will be spent on electioneering. But if I go cover a major party convention and get invited to a "welcoming party for the media," I can stuff my face with impunity and let a politician pick up the tab.

Sheesh. Also silly. Stupid, too. Ordinary folk see this kind of silliness and the reputation of the media takes another blow.

11:46:37 PM    


Screenshot from today's broadcast at www.konscious.tv.

NEW TV NEWS

Konscious Convention has a huge coolness factor, but it's more than that: the Web-based TV coverage of the Republican National Convention in New York truly points to one potential for new news.

Konscious Convention broadcast coverage Monday and Tuesday afternoon, featuring four video streams from various locations in New York. At the Web site, alongside the QuickTime video feed, was a live chat area, where viewers could not only talk quietly among themselves, but send questions for on-air reporters to ask of the people they were interviewing.

I caught the last 20 minutes of today's broadcast. There were some technical glitches (occasionally the sound would drop out for a beat or two and one feed couldn't be accessed at all). Still, what I saw was interesting: the questions posed by those in the chatroom were intelligent and fit with the flow of the interviews. The interviewers treated their subjects with respect and let them to have their say.

It wasn't compelling TV and it didn't have the slickness of network TV. But it was a nice piece of grassroots, participatory journalism. As it becomes possible to shove more data through the network carrying Internet traffic, this approach to journalism could start having the type of impact that blogs are having on traditional print media.

There are a couple of trends here worth watching: the continuing development of the idea that everyone can be a journalist and the continual devolution of the media to a less "professional" model that carries huge potential to be more meaningful to more readers/watchers.

CREDIT: I found Konscious TV through unmediated.org.

10:34:38 PM