For permission to reprint articles, submit requests to ethics@scu.edu. In other words, I don’t need names named, I need the behavior described. Your email address will not be published. Keep up with our work by signing up to receive our monthly newsletter. Journalism and Media Ethics Resources Sections Journalism and Media Ethics … Local newspaper printed story untrue without verifying facts, Your email address will not be published. The contract was part of a $1 million deal to produce “video news releases” — publicity disguised as news reports — about the controversial education reform law, which requires minimum scores on reading and math tests in exchange for federal aid. If you want to be quoted in the story (no guarantees of course), then please say so and give me whatever standard journalistic credit line you wish to be used. Gallagher, a marriage expert and researcher, accepted $21,500 from the Department of Health and Human Services to write materials describing the benefits of marriage, The Washington Post first reported. Jonathan BernsteinPresidentBernstein Crisis Management, Inc. Jonathan: Here are some more . Punishments for violating the laws are rare or unheard of, GAO officials told The Washington Post. “In limiting domestic dissemination of the U.S. government-produced news reports, Congress was reflecting concern that the availability of government news broadcasts may infringe upon the traditional freedom of the press and attempt to control public opinion,” Gamboa wrote. Free Management Library provides one of the world’s largest collections of well-organized, free resources about personal, professional and organizational development. Neither did Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democrats who wrote President Bush Jan. 14: “Because this case involves a serious violation of a law designed to protect taxpayer funds, namely the prohibition on the use of Federal funds for ‘publicity and propaganda’ included annually in Federal appropriations laws, we believe it is time for the White House to address this matter directly.”.
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, and the Federal Communications Commission are investigating whether Williams’ subsidized commentary violated federal propaganda, budgeting and communications laws. After the Williams story broke, stories emerged about Maggie Gallagher and Michael J. McManus, two part-time columnists who were paid by the Bush administration but did not disclose the relationship in their columns. The arrangement, first reported in January by USA Today after it obtained a copy of the contract through a Freedom of Information Act request, “is stupid, it is unseemly, and it is tacky,” Jonah Goldberg, a contributing editor at the conservative National Review told The New York Times. If Williams violated a federal law, it could have a more serious impact on the journalism profession than solely an ethical violation might have, said Bob Steele, an expert on media ethics at Poynter Institute. The Department of Health and Human Services violated laws restricting federal money from paying for “publicity and propaganda purposes” when it used taxpayer money for promoting its prescription drug plan through a video disguised as news, Gamboa wrote in a May 19 report. Required fields are marked *. “It can undermine and harm credibility. All requests are 100% confidential. In 1987, the State Department was found to have violated the law by paying consultants to write opinion pieces for newspapers endorsing the Reagan administration’s controversial support for anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua. It seems straightforward, but when the Government Accountability Office last year declared illegal the use of taxpayer money for fake news reports promoting the Bush administration’s Medicare prescription drug plan, it did not cite that provision. One of those consequences can be eroding the trust between journalists and the public, Steele said. Check out our blog posts on the Free Management Library! “If a journalist violates a law, the consequences to that journalist, to that news organization and to the profession can be profound,” he said. It is subject to sanctions such as penalties, suspension, expulsion from school or work, substantial fines and even incarceration. Recently, cases of "extreme plagiarism" have been identified in academia. From the Winter 2005 issue of The News Media & The Law, page 31. He also cited the Antideficiency Act, which forbids government agencies from spending money on “publicity or propaganda” when Congress has earmarked no money for such activity. Calling for a comment 30 minutes or less before deadline.