Arielle Lyons
al417019@ohio.edu
Image Source: Diary of An Aspiring Loser
If you've been paying attention to the news lately, there's a good chance you've heard about Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill, which now awaits signature into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The bill aims to limit education and conversation on sexual orientation and LGBTQ+ issues in kindergarten through third-grade public school classrooms if you haven't heard. The bill caused a massive uproar after the news of it spread. After this pushback came another wave against companies funding the campaigns of politicians backing the bill, including the Walt Disney Co. After this, CEO Bob Chapek announced that the company would temporarily suspend any donations to Florida politicians.
This Disney conversation raises the question of where news coverage on this story falls into this? More specifically, where does ABC News' coverage fall?
If you're unaware, Disney is ABC's parent company. So it's not uncommon for ABC News to report on Disney, and the story usually includes a disclaimer stating such. But what about when Disney is caught in a controversy such as this one? What is ABC News to do?
There are news stories about the "Don't Say Gay" bill on ABC News' website, but none about Disney's involvement, save for a mini-story found under the site's news compilation piece "The Note," in which the headline relates to Vladamir Putin. In this case, is it an ethical thing not to report on it? Other news sources are writing about it, so it's not like they're covering it up. Did Disney have any say in it? There aren't solid answers to these questions, but it might be helpful to explore other cases of parent companies being a conflict of interest for news organizations.
In a piece criticizing the influence of ESPN, also owned by Disney, Columbia Journalism Review writer Dean Starkman notes the influence of powerful companies for several news organizations:
Just recently, the Boston Red Sox's parent company bought the Boston Globe, and the head of the dominant online retailer with many regulatory interests bought the capital's leading paper, The Washington Post. Meanwhile, in a footnote, the Orange County Register's parent has struck a deal to serve as a broker of sorts for the city of Anaheim. But, of course, all situations involve conflicts of interest that make life harder for the newsrooms involved. So how will the Globe cover the 'Sawx? Very carefully. How does The Washington Post cover Amazon's regulatory and tax maneuvering in Washington? Same answer.
It isn't just Disney forcing journalists to go in circles when reporting. Any corporation with the money to buy a news organization has this power. That gives journalists a real problem to face when reporting on these companies' business dealings and controversies.
Corporations buying these organizations could be keeping them alive, as trust wanes in journalists, and money (especially in print) is hard to get. But at the same time, having a parent company means jumping through hoops when said company is in the news. ABC may not have had to report on this particular story, but what happens when Disney, one of the world's most recognizable and beloved companies, does something even more egregious? In a time where people's actions are looked at under a microscope and constantly scrutinized, it seems almost inevitable. What then? ABC News will have many ethical questions to answer and, even more, pushback to respond to when a story eventually comes out. Until then, powerful companies don't stop buying every organization they can afford, and news organizations, in particular, will have to keep a wary eye for ethical dilemmas.
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