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Impartiality Is Old School
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The problem with a lot of new media ventures is that they don't operate burdened by such "old media" tropes as ethics. Take the Huffington Post, which saw nothing wrong with running coverage of the Blagojevich trial by a lawyer/"reporter" who happens to have ties to Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose son, the Congressman, is entwined in the case for having allegedly bargained with Blago for the open Senate seat. In fact, her first posts focused on Jesse Jr. and how his name should be cleared of any wrongdoing (based only on the opening arguments, before the actual trial). On a "real paper," she'd never have been allowed to cover the case. In the present situation, she only belatedly had to disclose the relationship, and the blog reasoned that if you went to her bio page, it had been mentioned in passing. The standards are being lowered. (Chicago Tribune)
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