Delaney Ruth
delaneyruth18@gmail.com
There are many rules that journalists need to follow to stay unbiased and one of the most important rules is to avoid conflicts of interest. According to Jerz's Literary Weblog, "A conflict of interest arises when someone who is expected to act impartially has a personal stake in an issue (emotional, financial, etc.)." This may not seem like a big deal, but it can really hurt a journalist's credibility. Without credibility, the public can't trust the journalist to bring them unbiased information and this can ruin their career. Some of the most common conflicts of interest a journalist may face have to do with their personal life. Things like political views, religion and family can get in the way of an unbiased story if the journalist has some stake in the matter.
Familial conflicts of interest are complicated. In this Washington Post article, you can clearly see that pretty much all of the major network television stations run into conflicts of interest because many of their journalists are related or married to prominent people in politics. This is a problem because all of these journalists should not work on certain stories when their family members are involved. The journalist may not think there is not too much of a conflict of interest when she reports on a story on the president, but if her husband works underneath the president as an aid or something (no matter how insignificant and unimportant he may be), this is still a conflict of interest. The journalist has a stake in this story. If she reports that the president and his aides are doing a terrible job or are doing something wrong, her husband may get in trouble.
Another complicated conflict of interest journalists may run into is when the station they work for is owned by a company and the company is known for either liberal or conservative views. Reporters may be told by their parent company that they are supposed to put a conservative or liberal spin on a story. This is wrong because journalism is supposed to be unbiased. We are supposed to lay out the facts for the audience and by having a story that leans left or right, the audience may mistrust us. We could lose credibility. But on the flip side, if our parent company tells us to do something, what will happen to our station if we disobey?
These are just a few examples of the many ways journalists can be involved in conflicts of interest. Although it may not be the easiest choice, the best way to deal with conflicts of interest is to avoid them completely. If you have a personal stake in a story, give the story to another journalist. It is the only way to stay truly unbiased.
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