Ethical Disclosure 101
It's pretty telling, isn't it, that none of the stories in today's Tribune for the Cubs' home opener are about baseball. Baseball just provides an arbitrary occasion for a circular marketing ploy that siphons money from rubes. Tribune promotes Cubs, Cubs sell tickets and stuff, Tribune collects cash. That's what Cubune is all about. That's why it doesn't matter if the Cubs lose or win. The only baseball stories in today's Tribune are about the White Sox and the Cardinals. When it comes to the Cubs, we have a page-one story about fan angst, a religious story promoting a book about the Cubs' curse, an update on Derek Lee's contract talks, and an architectural review of Wrigley Field.
Since it is official Tribune policy to include an ethical disclosure in all but routine sports coverage of the Cubs, we checked these stories.... Nope, no ethical disclosure in any of them.
For you Chicagoans who've never seen it, here's what ethical disclosure looks like when it's done by a reputable newspaper:
"After distributing rings to players and on-field staff in a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park on Monday, the Red Sox held a charity dinner at the Sheraton Boston hotel, where they gave rings to the minority partners, including representatives of The New York Times Company, which owns a 17 percent share of the team." (New York Times, April 15, 2005)
It's pretty simple, a good writer can fit it smoothly into her story, and it makes writer, editor, and reader feel clean and fully informed. Without ethical disclosure, readers become rubes.
The absence of ethical disclosure seems particular prickly in the case of Blair Kamin's architectural review of the Wrigley Field renovations. He is, after all, reviewing a piece of investment property owned by his employer. And if you ponder profit sharing for a moment, he's invested in the property himself.
For those of you who boycott the Tribune, here's a condensed version of Kamin's review of Wrigley, using his own words: grand dame of American ballparks, matchless character, sacred garden, grand illusion, handsome, a delight to behold, beautifully continuing, perfect, pleasantly roomy, a place of joy. You get the picture.
Tribune writers usually say they don't do ethical disclosure because, and this is an actual quote, the Cubs-Tribune connection is "universally known." There are a couple problems with that stance. For example, what if someone doesn't know? It only takes one uninformed reader to put the writer in the ethical soup. Let me rephrase that: if even one reader doesn't know about the financial affiliation between the parties in the story, the writer has committed an ethical violation. Furthermore, ethical disclosure does more than inform. It reminds the writer, as she's writing, and reminds the reader, as she's reading, of the conflict of interest. Put it out in front where we can all see it, and it can do less harm.
Even Chicago Magazine editor Richard Babcock uses the "everyone knows" excuse. But does everyone in Chicago really know that Chicago Magazine is owned by the Tribune? What if tourists pick up these publications, do they know?
And what does the Society of Professional Journalists say about all this? "Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived, remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility, (and) disclose unavoidable conflicts."
Since it is official Tribune policy to include an ethical disclosure in all but routine sports coverage of the Cubs, we checked these stories.... Nope, no ethical disclosure in any of them.
For you Chicagoans who've never seen it, here's what ethical disclosure looks like when it's done by a reputable newspaper:
"After distributing rings to players and on-field staff in a pregame ceremony at Fenway Park on Monday, the Red Sox held a charity dinner at the Sheraton Boston hotel, where they gave rings to the minority partners, including representatives of The New York Times Company, which owns a 17 percent share of the team." (New York Times, April 15, 2005)
It's pretty simple, a good writer can fit it smoothly into her story, and it makes writer, editor, and reader feel clean and fully informed. Without ethical disclosure, readers become rubes.
The absence of ethical disclosure seems particular prickly in the case of Blair Kamin's architectural review of the Wrigley Field renovations. He is, after all, reviewing a piece of investment property owned by his employer. And if you ponder profit sharing for a moment, he's invested in the property himself.
For those of you who boycott the Tribune, here's a condensed version of Kamin's review of Wrigley, using his own words: grand dame of American ballparks, matchless character, sacred garden, grand illusion, handsome, a delight to behold, beautifully continuing, perfect, pleasantly roomy, a place of joy. You get the picture.
Tribune writers usually say they don't do ethical disclosure because, and this is an actual quote, the Cubs-Tribune connection is "universally known." There are a couple problems with that stance. For example, what if someone doesn't know? It only takes one uninformed reader to put the writer in the ethical soup. Let me rephrase that: if even one reader doesn't know about the financial affiliation between the parties in the story, the writer has committed an ethical violation. Furthermore, ethical disclosure does more than inform. It reminds the writer, as she's writing, and reminds the reader, as she's reading, of the conflict of interest. Put it out in front where we can all see it, and it can do less harm.
Even Chicago Magazine editor Richard Babcock uses the "everyone knows" excuse. But does everyone in Chicago really know that Chicago Magazine is owned by the Tribune? What if tourists pick up these publications, do they know?
And what does the Society of Professional Journalists say about all this? "Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived, remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility, (and) disclose unavoidable conflicts."
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