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Keeping you from voting?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by spup1122, Feb 1, 2008.

  1. STLIrish

    STLIrish Active Member

    Best part of the Denver Post memo: "All vacations are cancelled."
     
  2. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    You're mixing and confusing issues. Attending a caucus and voting are separate acts.
    A caucus -- if not as a journalist or performing journalism -- is in support of a candidate and/or party.
    Voting is your right as defined in the 8th and 15th Amendments.

    So, filing a suit would be an exercise in futility. Infringement is the key judiciary term, and limiting or not allowing attendance to a political function doesn't meet the criteria. At least that's what we were told by a leading Civil Rights attorney/professor at a seminar on the subject.
     
  3. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    Ah, yes, I see. Thank you.
     
  4. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Thanks for the clarification, fishwrapper.
     
  5. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Does the Post and the News endorse political candidates on its opinion pages? It would seem rather hypocritical that THEY can endorse a candidate, but heaven forbid that an employee does.

    If editors are so concerned about perceived bias, then they shouldn't allow employees to attend sporting events either. After all, readers could recognize the employees at a game, and question the paper's committment to objectivity.
     
  6. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    Oh. You're welcome.
    And, as Baron Scicluna points out, there is no right answer on this one.
    I, personally, think it's ok for editorial entities to error on the side of better perception. I think it does the institution and consumer a greater good.
    Yet, I can see fervent journalists having issues with such policies.
     
  7. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    My paper doesn't endorse political candidates; however, I don't live in a caucus state. They haven't tried to bar me from voting yet.
     
  8. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    The rebuttal for this one is easy. Opinion pages usually don't endorse at this point. (And, if they do -- a la N.Y. Times last week -- they can endorse one from each side.) When the Editorial boards do endorse a single candidate, it's for the election. Coinciding with your right to vote.
     
  9. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    My point is that newspapers trust that readers will know the difference between its endorsement of a candidate on an editorial page, and its coverage of an election on its news pages. Yet, they don't trust the readers to be able to tell the difference between an employee's endorsement of a candidate, and that employee's ability to remain objective in news coverage.
     
  10. fishwrapper

    fishwrapper Active Member

    I know what your point is.
    One can be defined. The other can't.
    A newspaper's opinions or political editorials are limited to the Opinion space. A news reporter's percieved bias -- under his or her byline -- can be seen throughout the paper.
     
  11. IGotQuestions

    IGotQuestions Member

    Our paper sent a memo not to attend Vote For Change concerts a few years back. People ignored that memo, and rightly so.
     
  12. STLIrish

    STLIrish Active Member

    OK. But by that logic, we shouldn't even be allowed to register as members of a political party, since that is a verifiable fact which could be used to perceive bias in our news coverage. Is that a standard policy at either paper?
    It would also mean we shouldn't cover our advertisers. Or the company where our spouse or other family members work, or really even the industry. Or our alma mater. Or the sports teams we grew up cheering for. Hell, you could make a case that your real estate reporter shouldn't be allowed to own a home, because his coverage might impact the local real estate market, and thus the value of his own property should he choose to sell it.
    But, for the most part, our newsrooms don't have those policies. So why should we have a written policy telling us we can't vote?
    I understand the need to avoid the perception of bias, but I think you do that by sending a message of professionalism in everything you do, not by restricting the civil rights of your newsgathering staff. That's a slippery slope that could land us all in the cloisters.
     
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