Update: Doug Myrland elaborates on the decision in the Current Conversation.
The KPBS general manager has struck down a long-standing ethics rule that forbids journalists from giving money to politicians. GM Doug Myrland cites freedom-of-speech concerns.
"The policy is an invasion of privacy," Myrland wrote in an e-mail to KPBS managers. "Please strike it out, and send an email to all of our news staff informing them that while we expect them to disclose any conflict of interest, their employer does not forbid them making personal contributions."
Myrland says he made the change after reading excerpts of the ethics code on Off Mic .
KPBS News Director Michael Marcotte does not support the change. "Trust is hard earned here every day," he says. "A breach of that trust could instantly negate all that we've stood for."
The dispute is over private rights versus professional responsibility. Myrland says the former policy, similar to that of NPR's, exposes the organization to law suits. Myrland quoted ethicist Randy Cohen, as reported by MSNBC:
"We admire those colleagues who participate in their communities -- help out at the local school, work with Little League, donate to charity," Cohen said in an e-mail. "But no such activity is or can be non-ideological. Few papers would object to a journalist donating to the Boy Scouts or joining the Catholic Church. But the former has an official policy of discriminating against gay children; the latter has views on reproductive rights far more restrictive than those of most Americans. Should reporters be forbidden to support those groups? I'd say not."
Marcotte says KPBS expects journalists "to exercise their private free speech rights in a manner that does not call into question our mutual ethical principles."
The change is effective immediately.
-- Andrew Phelps is a reporter for KPBS News and co-host of Off Mic . Please read our guidelines before posting comments.
