Everyday Ethics

Newsrooms around the country are scrutinizing the ethics of freelancers.

I know this because several freelancers have called me with their frustrations. So have their editors.

Most of the time freelancing is a mutually beneficial arrangement between writers who don’t want an office job and editors who don’t want to hire a full-time staffer. NY Times Public Editor Byron Calame has written about his newsroom's efforts. He followed up Sunday with more thoughts.

As ethical thinking in journalism has evolved in the wake of Jayson Blair and Jack Kelley, editors are examining all content creators, including syndicated columnists and independent freelancers, cartoonists and artists. Among the questions editors are asking of freelancers:

• What’s your policy on accepting gifts and freebies?
• Who else do you work for? Do your other sources of income create a conflict of interest?
• Have you worked for any groups that advocate a social or political position?
• Have you published any work that reveals a bias that could be harmful to this news organization?

Editors are recognizing that freelancers require more management than they have merited in the past. Some newsrooms ask freelancers to read the code of ethics and agree to abide by it. Most don’t

Commentator Armstrong Williams is just one example of a free agent who stepped over the line of journalistic sensibility when he accepted $240,000 from the Department of Education to promote the president’s education reform agenda. It cost him credibility. The newsrooms that ran his columns also paid a price.

I’ve had calls from freelancers who feel burned by the new rules. Some writers have had work dry up because editors discovered they have also freelanced for public relations firms or high-profile non-profit organizations like Planned Parenthood or Focus on the Family. Some freelancers who write about travel and entertainment are struggling with the new rules that prohibit such freebies as hotel stays and meals. Most editors aren’t offering to pay expenses or increase the fees they pay, freelancers say.

Readers are the biggest stakeholders in this conversation. That suggests consistent standards for all journalists, freelance as well as staff. But freelancers have a lot at stake too. The freelance writers I’ve coached, including a few who write for the The Times, say they are caught in a no-win situation. If they disclose too much to their editors, they are certain they will lose business. If they hold back information and an editor independently learns of a conflict, the freelancer will be labeled unethical.

My fear is many freelance journalists will give up on the low-paying journalism jobs in favor of corporate work that will pay the bills and won't ask too many questions.