If a reporter says something biased in a newsroom, and she's surrounded by fellow journalists...does it really matter?
Apparently it does. Newsroom case in point: Seattle Times.
A number of staffers cheered in a news meeting when it was announced that Karl Rove had resigned. Soon, as the paper's own political blogger called it, the incident became the "cheer heard around the world."
Seattle Times Executive Editor David Boardman reprimanded the staff and reminded them in an internal memo that as they headed into an election year to "keep your personal politics to yourself."
Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz called the incident "an embarrassment to the industry." MSNBC's Joe Scarborough ratted out his own newsroom and said he heard staffers boo President Bush during the State of the Union address.
I remember the day I learned that newsrooms were not a safe space. By that, I mean a place where I can let my guard down and feel like I can state my opinion around people who won't question my journalistic integrity.
It was the election that wouldn't end (Presidential election 2000). I was working in Florida. One state fell to a certain candidate, and I cheered along with a couple of other folks.
A veteran reporter pulled me aside. Simmer down, she said. Professionalism for a reporter means even inside the newsroom. She told me to keep my politics to myself.
It's difficult being a reporter sometimes because the newsroom is a place where you want to let down your guard.
Every day, we talk to different people. We ask them a million questions. When asked about ourselves, as the natural ebb and flow of conversations go, we stay mum. We keep to ourselves.
We try our hardest not to give our opinion. Not to agree. Not to disagree.
Sometimes my mind gets it but my body forgets. I still catch myself nodding my head in subconscious agreement when interviewing someone.
And it is hard when you are in the newsroom - among friends and fellow political watchers - not to throw in a snide comment now and then.
But newsrooms aren't safe spaces. And I don't think they should be. Every day we battle stereotypes about being too liberal. Every day we are accused of being biased.
Newsrooms have identities, too. Just like journalists, the newsroom identity should also be unbiased.
I'm sorry, Seattle Times. But I'm not with you on this one.
What do you think? Do you think reporters can let their guards down in newsrooms? Do you think it was okay that the Seattle Times employees cheered?
