Dallas TV critic Ed Bark writes the latest chapter of an ever-thicker and ever-sicker story about TV stations selling "news" time to hospitals that want to look good on the air.
As I've asked before, when is the Radio-Television News Directors Association going to step up and address this situation, which is addressed in its own code of ethics but apparently almost universally ignored? Excerpts of that code:
Professional electronic journalists should:Posted by schwitz at February 20, 2008 12:48 PM | TrackBack* Gather and report news without fear or favor, and vigorously resist undue influence from any outside forces, including advertisers, sources, story subjects, powerful individuals, and special interest groups.
* Resist those who would seek to buy or politically influence news content or who would seek to intimidate those who gather and disseminate the news.
* Determine news content solely through editorial judgment and not as the result of outside influence.
* Resist any self-interest or peer pressure that might erode journalistic duty and service to the public.
* Recognize that sponsorship of the news will not be used in any way to determine, restrict, or manipulate content.
* Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately.
I agree with you on this but I don't see it changing anytime soon simply because electronic journalists will always be influenced by management who gets slapped around by advertisers and outside companies. Its all about the money for management in most cases.
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