About 17 or so years ago a young, bright San Diego up-and-comer was contemplating a run for State Assembly.  Many in GOP circles were talking about him, as he clearly had a decent chance to take a legislative seat.  

There was a problem, however … although it wasn’t a personal one for him, perhaps just a political one.  Personally, he was in love with a young political reporter for the San Diego Union and they had become engaged.  As the reporter often covered state legislative politics, she asked her employer about the situation and was told — as the story goes — that the pending marriage represented a potential conflict of interest, thus she would have to make a decision as to whether she wanted to continue her particular role at the newspaper.

The answer was simple … the young man opted not to pursue a political career at the moment, instead deciding to pursue his true heart.  A smart man, I’d say.

What is remembered the most, though, is the big, annual San Diego County Republican Party Christmas Dinner — it had to be December 1989, if memory serves — and GOP Chair Betty Kujawa (rest her soul) asked any candidates in the room to stand and introduce themselves.  "Hi, I’m ‘Steve Smith’ and I’m running for State Assembly," one after the other stood and announced.

No surprises in the lot, but then the recently engaged candidate stood up.  You could hear the silent surprise in the room for a brief second, as everyone had heard of his decision.  Then he declared, "I’m ‘so-and-so’ and I’m getting married."

The house came down.

A funny story maybe, yet also a long way of getting to a point about ethics, integrity and conflicts of interest in journalism.  Back then, even in a situation where the reporter would not have been the candidate, but simply the spouse of the candidate, the answer was still simple.  The reporter did the right thing by asking.  The media entity did as well, recognizing the potential conflict and resulting perceptions and implications.  Equally, the candidate did the honorable thing for himself and his bride.

Marti Emerald, the longtime investigative reporter and troubleshooter for KGTV is mulling a 2008 run for Jim Madaffer’s open seat on the SD City Council (District 7).  She has clear name ID and it appears that the local Democratic hierarchy would anoint her as their candidate.  Actually, many say her decision has far surpassed simply a "mulling," it is a plan.  The buzz is about how long she plans to stay on the air, given a possible "more than one hat" situation.  The word is that she may be planning to stay put as long as possible, waiting until the last moment to enter the race.

What’s more, Marti’s particular role on TV affords her the opportunity to be cut differently than the regular "straight news" journalist, as she is a consumer advocate, often weighing in heavily on the issues of the day, including those going on in the City of San Diego.

Clearly, Emerald has a passion for protecting the consumer, and — honestly — she does her job well.  Among her many awards and recognitions are a number from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Having been a "journy" major myself, I’m pretty familiar with SPJ.  For years, the organization has been the genre’s leader and standard bearer when it comes to ethics in journalism (some laugh at that phrase), even publishing an industry Code of Ethics.  The "Code" is taught to journalism students.  Whether it is framed and hung on newsroom walls throughout America … I have no clue.

Some excerpts from SPJ’s Code of Ethics in Journalism:

From the Preamble…
Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society’s principles and standards of practice.

Act Independently…
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.  

Journalists should:
—Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
— Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
— Shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.

Be Accountable…
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.  

Journalists should:
— Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

The SPJ Code of Ethics is voluntarily embraced by thousands of writers, editors and other news professionals.

It is clear that Emerald has attended several community events in District 7 and elsewhere the last several weeks, a far cry more than those she has attended in the past either in her professional role or voluntarily.  She is also now a regular on the "political circuit," i.e. Democratic Central Committee, Democratic Club, Labor Council, etc.

The issue isn’t about whether she does this on her own time (not as a KGTV employee), it’s whether her apparent overt political involvement is afforded by her continued position at Channel 10, a position that also happens to provide her regular mass media exposure.  It’s whether Channel 10 knows she is mulling a candidacy, while providing these opportunities.  One just needs to look at the "Code."

Who knows, maybe she doesn’t run for office at all, and any such concerns become moot.  In the meantime, what is Marti Emerald’s take on this, the honorable path?  What is KGTV Channel 10 News’ opinion of integrity in journalism?

Have a great week.

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Link to Code of Ethics, SPJ

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 1st, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.