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Make sure your entire company knows your ethics policies!
By Lauren | July 2, 2009
You’re getting my Friday business ethics tips post a day early thanks to Politico.com, which just broke the story of a shocking gaffe at The Washington Post. According to Politico.com, the Post’s business division for conferences and events released a flier yesterday that offered lobbyists and association executives “intimate, exclusive” access to Obama Administration officials, members of Congress and the Post’s own reporters and editors. The event would be “an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of [the Post's] CEO and Publisher, Katharine Weymouth.” The price to attend? A measly $25,000 - $250,000.
Politico.com quotes the Post’s Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli as saying that he was “appalled” by the flier and promising that the newsroom staff would not participate in the event. Quite correctly, Brauchli championed the independence of his reporters and told Post reporter Howard Kurtz that the flier “appear[ed] to offer, in exchange for sponsorships, the good name of The Washington Post.” Now, the Post’s media team is scrambling to do damage control. Politico.com quotes the communication’s director of Washington Post Media, Kris Coratti, as saying that the flier “went out before it was properly vetted.”
No kidding.
What amazes me is that anyone associated with The Washington Post could be dim-witted enough to issue this flier, properly vetted or not. Doesn’t everyone at the Post understand that the paper’s reporters and editors need to be objective to be credible? And whose bright idea was it to put together an event where the Post might appear to be selling sweetheart access to “those powerful few” government leaders who’ll shape the healthcare reform debate? The Post is a newspaper, not a dating service. And the fact that this story broke on the eve of Independence Day gives the holiday a whole new meaning.
The Post will undoubtedly recover from this embarrassing incident, but it demonstrates an invaluable lesson that every large business should keep in mind. It’s important for everyone in your company to understand and adhere to the ethical rules that govern your industry. The Post’s newroom staff already knows not to promise preferred treatment on controversial issues. When it comes to the Post’s conference and event staff, though, it appears that the Post has a lot of training to do.
To read the entire Politico.com post, go to http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/24441.html.
Topics: Business Ethics, Professional Ethics, business communications, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
It is very important that all of your employees know and comply with ethical standards.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
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July 12th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
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