February 9, 2009

Independent news matters

Posted at 2:18 PM by Adam Linker

UNC Journalism School professor Leroy Towns has a message for reporters: stop worrying about your integrity.

We wrote several weeks ago about a new health care newsletter written by health care lobbyist Harrison Kaplan and distributed by the News & Observer publication The Insider. Kaplan represents a host of corporate clients including several drug companies. Many organizations that lobby against clients represented by Kaplan expressed concern to the N&O.

N&O Public Editor Ted Vaden wrote a considered response to the controversy.

Enter Towns, who chastises newspapers for engaging in “self flagellation” over the “purity” of their product. He even reserved a little criticism for the Progressive Pulse:

In doing so, newspapers should pay little attention to the objections of NC Policy Watch, which raised the health newsletter issue. While the group often is referred to as a public interest group, it is in fact a lobby organization itself and probably does not want the new competition.

The N&O story notes that the post was written by Adam Searing from the Health Access Coalition. And Vaden notes that NC Policy Watch is a “public policy advocacy group.”

Everyone knows that the NC Justice Center lobbies. In fact, most of the objections to Kaplan’s new role with the N&O were raised by lobbyists. Those who represent the interests of consumers want to ensure that the N&O remains independent and hard-hitting. The N&O is one of the few voices left in the state that holds businesses and politicians accountable. We count on it.

But Towns is a public relations man and is not interested in journalistic integrity. “The fact is,” Towns tells us, “information in the newsletter probably is much better than a general assignment N&O reporter can provide.” Towns must be an inspiration to aspiring journalists.

I prefer the writings of UNC Journalism School legend Phil Meyer who argues that credibility is central to the future of newspapers.

It’s not clear what is going to happen to newspapers in these uncertain times. But it was not lobbyists who revealed that doors were locked from the inside in the Hamlet chicken plant fire. It was not lobbyists who publicized the environmental damage wrought by hog farms in North Carolina. It was not lobbyists who uncovered the fraud and neglect rampant in our state’s mental health system.

Mr. Towns can keep his newsletters; I’ll take an independent general assignment reporter over an industry lobbyist any day.

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Ma.gnolia
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • YahooMyWeb
  • E-mail this story to a friend!

Comments

Add your comment

Please keep comments on topic and be respectful of other commenters. Inflammatory comments will be edited or removed.

Search

Previous Posts

  1. Moving Ahead
  2. Gratitude is My Attitude
  3. Mejia: Rethinking those perks and incentives
  4. The problem is not diversity, the problem is not enough diversity

NC Policy Watch