Two California Congresswomen face ethics probe

A House committee has recommended an investigation of the alleged ethics violations of Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, both Democrats from California.

From Politico:

Waters intervened with the Treasury Department last year on behalf of a minority owned bank, OneUnited, in which her husband owned stock. He also served on its board.

Richardson’s case revolves around her Sacramento home, which she purchased in 2006 but lost to foreclosure. The home was sold to a third party but later reacquired by Richardson. [The Office of Congressional Ethics] looked into the foreclosure issue and whether neighbors who cleaned up Richardson’s yard made an improper gift to the congresswoman by mowing the lawn and gardening.

(found via LA Observed)

Citizen advertising reps

Should bloggers sell ads on their web pages, rather than rely on passive tools such as GoogleAdsense that throw up ads based on keyword searches? Drew Grant at ASSME asks a few people the question and gets a few answers. The best:

...our own boss Aaron Gell chimes in: What writer/bloggers will quickly find out if they begin selling their own ads is not simply how hard ad teams work it but how much shit they eat and (thankfully) protect editors from. While it’s probably true that bloggers without any scruples whatsoever are now in a position to cash in by pimping out their reputations to the highest bidders I can’t see how it doesn’t instantly pervert truth, honest discourse and all we hold dear.

In the blurry world of new media it might seem that all bloggers are alike, but the question requires a good deal more nuance given the relationships bloggers have - quasi-independent with a fellowship? on the Gawker payroll while freelance blogging for a startup nonprofit? - and the content they create.

Even in the case of news sites the lines are getting blurred - often intentionally - with opinion driving what is covered and how. Rachel Sklar, who works for Dan Abrams' Mediaite, says transparency is enough when it comes to ad sales. For a more traditional journalist, transparency is a cop out - negotiating an ad sale with an institution you cover is wrong even if you confess it all to your readers.

All apologies

Politico's story catching the Washington Post with its ethics down has caused repercussions inside and outside the newspaper. Post publisher Katharine Weymouth wrote a long letter to readers apologizing for a flier that promised corporate-sponsored off-the-record meetings between editorial staff, White House officials and paying lobbyists. She's also asked for an internal review of what happened and talked with the newsroom staff.

All the hullabaloo inspired Talking Points Memo to report that the Atlantic magazine has been holding corporate-sponsored salons since 2003. Atlantic Media publisher David Bradley responded with a long letter of his own.

Missing links

Shortly after the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday, websites that hosted the writings of James von Brunn began erasing the links. Although caches of the writings still exist, the effort to remove his words has raised questions about online ethics and transparency.

From the Washington Post:

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, which resulted in the death of one security guard, several items were unearthed online that appeared to be written by von Brunn: a piece titled "Obama Is Missing," which questioned the president's citizenship, on conservative forum FreeRepublic.com. A Wikipedia user bio page (von Brunn had edited only sporadically), in which he wrote that Judaism is "the Enemy of Mankind." A long-stagnant personal site, HolyWesternEmpire.org, which included links to a novel.

Throughout Wednesday afternoon, these links began to disappear. Clicking on the personal site resulted in an error message. The Wikipedia user page vanished. The Free Republic link was also removed -- at least for a while. Current events Web site Daily Kos remarked on the removal, and a few hours later, the post reappeared.

Gotcha

In the wake of the Couric interviews, John McCain has claimed that questions put to Sarah Palin have amounted to "gotcha" journalism. Palin herself said this, "I have a degree in journalism... so it surprises me that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago."

So Portfolio asked Abubakar Alhassan, who teaches media ethics at the University of Idaho School of Journalism and Mass Media, where Palin earned her degree, whether she's been a victim of unethical reporting. Here's what he said:

"I think the media that's had the opportunity to interview her was just giving her that opportunity to explain to people the controversies out there she hasn't hasn't spoken about," he says. "I don't think they asked any 'gotcha' questions. I don't think a question about which it turns out she doesn't know much is a 'gotcha' question."

Read the rest of the entire story here. (via Romenesko)

Ethics in the age of declining circulation

Market Watch surveyed a number of media mainstays to weigh in on the state of journalism ethics in the five years since the Jayson Blair scandal knee-capped the New York Times. Here's what New Yorker media critic Ken Auletta had to say:

"I suspect that serious felons like Blair have been deterred. But cheating and cutting corners has not been. Declining circulation, falling advertising revenues, and the swooning stock value of traditional news organizations, coupled with expanding consumer choices, prompts slashed newsroom budgets.

"This leaves fewer editors and fact checkers to police newsrooms. Worse, with business declining, the folks who sign our checks push for more sensational stories, more conflict, more sharp opinion -- anything -- to lift their news stories from the clutter. The business culture imposes itself on the journalistic culture. In the contest between the two cultures, business usually triumphs," Auletta wrote.

(via Romenesko)