Kayla McLeod
Conflicts of interest are hard to avoid. Depending on the environment, they could be very easy to run into, or almost unavoidable. Say, you're a small town journalist who is picking up a story about the local high school's teachers going on strike, and the main teacher who organized the strike is your partner. As a journalist following the general code of ethics, you would either have to refrain from interviewing your partner for the story or drop the story all together.
This is a very obvious example of conflict of interest. However, it can indeed go way deeper than that. Who news outlets fraternize with, at a corporate level, can also come into play.
A very good example of a current conflict of interest with many smaller news outlets are issues with federal aid. Many outlets, with the fall of the economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have been forced to accept federal aid. This New York Times article outlines a free weekly magazine named Seven Days in Burlington, VT. Since they are considered a small business in the eyes of the government (under 500 employees) they were allowed to receive federal aid to keep their outlet afloat during the shutdown.
However, very shortly after this they published a satirical cartoon of Donald Trump, referencing the federal aid that was being given out. Many people saw this as a conflict of interest. Even though the writers at the publication brushed it off, they received a lot of criticism for it.
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| Picture source: The New York Times |
Is this a conflict of interest? Technically, this aid could influence how the outlet will write about the government. However, again, it's almost unavoidable when it comes to tricky economic situations like this.
Another good example is when Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post. He did buy it independently, with no connection to Amazon. However, he still is the CEO of Amazon, and this decision could have effected all stories about Amazon as a company from that point forward.
A lot of other news outlets criticized The Washington Post for this. But, if they needed this sale, then was it avoidable? Where do we draw the line when it comes to these types of conflicts of interest?
Great blog, Kayla! I really enjoyed the insight you brought regarding conflicts of interest. Through this blog I have come to understand (and totally agree) that a major conflict of interest that gets in the way of good journalism is money. I am not a fan of the influence which money has on reporting. Being a sports fan, I have observed a lot of this from ESPN. It seems too often journalism companies will report things that appease big markets. In ESPN's case, they will often overlook a great game if it does not equal big business. In terms of news it often seems that ethical reporting is considered secondary to ratings. It seems some companies will avoid ethical reporting if it means they can get more ratings. The issue you bring up is also a very interesting one. I often do not pay attention to partnerships certain broadcast companies have but it also presents a major conflict of interest that can cause those companies to either avoid reporting or report in a "nonproper/non-ethical" way in order to protect a partnership.
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