Eyeballing Ethics

Perceptive Gene Policinski hit another bulls-eye in a recent First Amendment Center essay of the risky business of reporters getting too close to their key sources. This sensitive issue has heated up in recent weeks after MSNBC.com identified 143 journalists who had contributed to political candidates or organizations. That sticky story was followed by two sexier ethics capers involving TV reporters in Los Angeles and Chicago. Both broadcast brouhahas involved attractive women reporters and men they covered professionally.

Policinski writes that "there's no requirement in the First Amendment that journalists and news sources, particularly in government, automatically be antagonists. But there certainly is the proviso that the press is not part of government, formally or informally." Carried to a personal level, he says, means "maintaining a healthy skepticism about those on whom you report. Keeping that distance, mentally or physically, can be difficult."