RE: Sinclair’s “Deal” With Campaigns
(See note at bottom for changes)
A significant portion of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics focuses on what to do if errors are made in a story. The bottom line is that you own up to your mistakes and correct the record.
I published a post Saturday on this blog based off a Politico story, which alleged the Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group struck a deal with Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election to air interviews with the candidate without added context in exchange for access. The report was repeated by other news organizations.
After hearing from Sinclair’s representatives and viewing emails between the company and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton‘s campaign, I don’t believe the interview arrangements fell outside what would be considered ethical journalism. Therefore, I apologize to Sinclair for assuming the statements reported in Politico story, which was based off third-party reports, were accurate.
From what I can tell, the situation is a victim of a game of telephone. One person makes a statement, another person repeats that statement with some errors and it builds upon itself. Unfortunately, I made myself part of the chain by not reaching out to Sinclair for clarification. I’m sorry.
While my posts are commentary and I stand by my interpretation of the alleged situation as it applies to SPJ’s Code of Ethics, I should have not assumed the reported statements were correct.
I’ll be keeping the post up with a prominently displayed note linking to this post.
You can view an example of Sinclair’s interview with Trump here.
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This post was updated on 12/19 to clarify that I believe the statements reported by Politico were incorrect – not that Politico incorrectly reported the statements.
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Andrew M. Seaman is the chair of the Society of Professional Journalists‘ ethics committee.
Tags: Clinton, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Jared Kushner, Politico, Sinclair, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Tim Kaine, Trump
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