Ethics research gets
wide coverage
Ethics concerns apparently
hit a chord; several media outlets pick
up on ASBPE’s
exclusive survey report.
Ethics
is big news. After ASBPE released the
results of its ethics research,
a number of blogs, print media, and e-newsletters
picked
up
the story.
Ethics Pleas Falling
on Deaf Ears?
One
of the more interesting pickups was by min’s
b2b print
newsletter on
Jan. 16, 2006. With a lead headline on
page 1 that read “Editor’s
Survey Finds B2B Ethical Standards Going
To Hell
in a Handbasket,” the article began:
Hardly an American Business Media conference
goes by without a solemn panel of B2B editorial
executives, usually scheduled on the last
day when attendance is dwindling, decrying
the state of editorial ethics and Church/State
relations in publishing today. These sessions
typically include lengthy commentary on
the many business and branding benefits
of fostering lively editorial with little
interference from the business side when
conflicts with advertisers arise.
The kicker? “Well, if a new survey
from the American Society of Business Press
[sic] Editors means anything, their words
are largely falling on deaf ears.”
The article continues
on to cite the statistics. “Perhaps
the most startling revelation in the survey,” the
newsletter stated, “is that nearly
one-third of the editors who say their
publications have a formal editorial code
feel that management ‘only sometimes’ backs
them up. . . .
“But if the scope
of the discontent reflected in this survey
… (… a very, very
strong response rate of 43.6%…) — is
accurate, publishers have an awful lot
of work to do to create a better balance
between business and editorial. …”
B2B, Mainstream
Organizations Alike Cite Study Another
publication, BusinessMedia, ran
the ASBPE press release virtually in
its entirety with the headline “ASBPE
B-to-B Editors Voice Dissatisfaction
Over Ethics Environment.” You can
find the story here.
An
e-newsletter from the Center for Media
Research covered the story as well. The headline read: “Business Publication
Editors Strive for Updated Editorial Ethics.”
BusinessJournalism.org also published
the story in their ethics section
under the headline “Survey Highlights
Ethical Concerns in the Newsroom,” even
though the group is largely geared to
newspapers. Read the article here.
In the article, Kevin Sweeney wrote: “For
business reporters and editors at daily
newspapers, the survey brings the newspaper
code of ethics under the magnifying glass
and refreshes critical communication issues
for senior management.”
Sweeney quotes Mary
Flannery, enterprise reporter with the Philadelphia Daily
News: “Yes,
some advertisers push the editorial side — usually
indirectly, but sometimes directly. I have
found that they expect to be rebuffed.
They just have to ask but they would be
shocked if the request got any traction.”
“In a separate
survey recently conducted by the Donald
W. Reynolds National Center
for Business Journalism at the American
Press Institute,” Sweeney wrote, “several
respondents indicated there was too much
of a blur between editorial and advertising
departments.” Coverage also appeared
in Folio: magazine’s
e-newsletter and Paul
Conley’s blog,
among other places.
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