It's important for reporters to avoid conflicts of interest that could compromise their journalistic independence or taint their appearance as objective observers. Here are six ways of avoiding such conflicts:
1. Don't accept freebies or gifts from sources.
People will often try to curry favor with reporters by offering them gifts of various sorts. But taking such freebies opens the reporter up to the charge that he can be bought.
2. Don't donate money to political or activist groups.
Many news organization have rules against this for obvious reasons - it telegraphs where the reporter stands politically, and erodes the confidence readers have in the reporter as an impartial observer. As we've seen in the
Keith Olbermann case, even opinion journalists can get into trouble for giving money to political groups or candidates.
3. Don't engage in political activity.
This goes along with no. 2. Don't attend rallies, wave signs, or otherwise publicly lend your support to groups or causes that have a political bent. Non-political charitable work is fine.
4. Don't get too chummy with the people you cover.
It's important to establish a good working relationship with the sources on your beat. But there's a fine line between a working relationship and a true friendship. If you become best friends with a source you're not likely to cover that source objectively. The best way to avoid such pitfalls? Don't socialize with sources outside of work.
5. Don't cover friends or family members.
If you have a friend or relative who is in the public spotlight - let's say your sister is a member of the city council - you must recuse yourself from covering that person as a reporter. Readers simply won't believe that you'll be as tough on that person as you are on everyone else - and they'll probably be right.
6. Avoid financial conflicts.
If you cover a prominent local company as part of your beat, you shouldn't own any of that company's stock. More broadly, if you cover a certain industry, say, drug companies or computer software makers, then you shouldn't own stock in those kinds of companies.
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