Conflicts of Interest: Then vs. Now

Haley Dake

hd883312@ohio.edu

Unfortunately for the journalists of my generation, we have entered an era where conflicts of interest between corporations and news media outlets has become inevitable. Though it is easy to write out and establish an ethical code for how to deal with these situations, it seems that no one is following any such code.

What we see every day

We see examples of these conflicts almost every day, the most recent being the Ray Rice scandal. Many people question why we didn't see the highly controversial elevator footage from an organization like Fox before TMZ released it. I believe the answer has nothing to do with the ethical values of other organizations in comparison to those of TMZ, but it has everything to do with the ties channels like Fox have with the NFL.

The amount of money that is exchanged between the two organizations is without a doubt vital to the success if both parties. Releasing the video would have been detrimental to both sides, so naturally a decision was made to brush it under the rug. This is a clear violation of the ethical code journalists are meant to follow when dealing of conflicts of interest. The number one guideline being to just avoid theses situations all together, which Fox was in no position to do. 

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Then vs Now

In my research it was easy to find examples, in the past and present of conflicts of interest. One video in particular lead me to the CBS reports on the Nike sweatshop scandal in the early 1990s, before I was even born. It was interesting to see how a big business could have such a strong hold on a very large news organizations then much like they do today.

Correspondents were required to wear Nike brand parkas on air, during a time where Nike was going through a very large scandal regarding they manufacturing of their clothing. One correspondent drew attention to the unethical behavior of CBS in this particular situation and she was forced into resignation, and both reports of her questioning Nike have been since hidden by CBS.

This video however lead to me an interesting place. A website dedicated to the film, The Shadows of Liberty. Their goal being to raise awareness of these kinds of ethical problems in media and how the support of independent media organizations will help prevent these conflicts of interest in the future.

Moving forward

To sit an point fingers at the NFL commissioner or the corporate leaders of Fox news will not change the fact that an unethical decision was made. Even in the early 90s we can see how trying to expose such organizations can't accomplish the change we need.

Instead we will use them as examples as we further our career. As young journalists we can not change the past, we can only fix what has already been done by making strong personal goals for ourselves in order to change the standard.