Journalists are taught to abide by a strict code of ethics and in today’s society it is becoming more and more pertinent to be transparent with the public. In the journalism industry, there are plenty of situations that have people questioning the ethics of particular news organizations. One specific case involved the resignation of three CNN journalists in June of last year after an article regarding ties between Russia and President Trump was published. This article has since been retracted but it serves as an example of a piece that raises questions about ethics in journalism, specifically surrounding fake news and transparency.
The three journalists involved in this incident are Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, and Lex Haris; all seasoned professionals. The article had not gone through certain editorial processes. CNN reports that these political pieces are reviewed by fact-checkers, standards experts, and lawyers before they run to print. Frank, the writer of the article in question, reported that Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge-fund manager and Trump ally, was tied to a Russian investment fund being invested by the US Senate. Trump fired back at CNN in a tweet that read, “Wow, CNN had to retract big story on ‘Russia,’ with 3 employees forced to resign. What about all the other phony stories they do? FAKE NEWS!”. The president of CNN, Jeffrey A. Zucker, found that the article ran despite gaps found by the standards department. This incident comes after multiple misconducts by the news organization in relation to the Trump administration. The New York Times reports on the CNN’s relationship with the president by writing, “CNN’s aggressive reporting has been a regular thorn in the Trump administration’s side” (Grynbaum, 2017).
The issues that are highlighted in this specific case are fake news and transparency. Fake news is heavily disputed in this industry. Jenny Zhegnye Hou writes in her article, “How to Combat Fake News to Build Trust and Protect Your Reputation”, “While misinformation is an age-old problem, the internet and digital technologies have turned it into a new threat to business, media, government and democratic societies” (Hou, 2018). This article was posted to CNN’s internet site, and as a result spread rapidly across social media sites. In this situation, the journalist failed to be transparent about the information he knew and did not know when reporting on Trump and his supporter’s involvement with Russia. The editor of Quill Michael Sanserino writes, “We wanted to address one of the most important challenges we face in journalism: trust. We explore how some in the industry are barnstorming the country to fight ‘fake news’ and examine the rise in transparency to educate news consumers and combat attacks on a free press” (Sanserino, 2018). The goal of being transparent is to provide readers with the information that is both accurate and educational. Journalists must have a strong sense of ethics to remain transparent and avoid using falsehoods in their writing.
This case shows that even the most experienced journalists are subject to gaps in ethical judgement. Frank was employed by USA Today and Newsday for three decades. Lichtblau is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a recognized New York Times reporter. Haris was named the executive editor of CNN Investigates the previous January. The takeaway here is that it is crucial to be conscious of ethical journalistic practices at every stage of one’s career.
I think it is important to continue to discuss such issues that continue to present themselves in our industry. We can all learn from the mistakes made by such accomplished journalists and from how news organizations choose to deal with recovering from these sorts of setbacks. Through examining such case studies, I find it valuable to learn how to minimize harm and error in my own work.
Works Cited
Frank, T. (2017, June 27). CNN employees resign after retracted article. Retrieved April 02, 2018, from http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/26/media/cnn-announcement-retractedarticle/index.html
Grynbaum, M. (2017, June 26). 3 CNN Journalists Resign After Retracted Story on Trump Ally. Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/business/3-cnnjournalists-resign-after-retracted-story-on-trump-ally.html
SANSERINO, M. (2018). A new Quill. Quill, 106(1), 3.
Zhengye Hou, J. (2018). How to Combat Fake News to Build Trust and Protect Your Reputation. Communication World, 1-3.