Who has your back?
Practicing ethics can help make sense of coverage
by Stan Zoller
Prior restraint. Censorship.
They are things all media advisers dread.
Imagine what it would be like if your principal started telling you what your kids could and could not cover in their media.
Many advisers don’t even think about it because their principal is “really nice” and understands journalism.
Now suppose, just suppose, a gubernatorial candidate went to your principal and objected to something scheduled to be covered.
Nonsense.
That’s probably what Dave McKinney, Springfield Bureau Chief for the Chicago Sun-Times probably thought.
Surprise.
In one of the most bizarre tales of the Illinois gubernatorial race, Republican candidate Bruce Rauner allegedly went to the publishers of the Chicago Sun-Times to block a story McKinney, along with WMAQ reporter Carol Marin and producer Don Moseley were working on because Rauner and his staff took exception to it.
Briefly, while the Sun-Times brass stood behind McKinney, when all was said and done, he had to take some time off, was told his byline would not be on upcoming stories and was offered other positions at the paper which, he said in his resignation letter, he considered demotions. In the midst of all this, the Sun-Times endorsed Rauner for governor.
Oct. 23, McKinney resigned and said, among other things in his resignation letter, that “I’m convinced this newspaper no longer has the backs of reporters like me.” His resignation ether can be read here.
So what does a professional reporter with 20 years of experience have to do with scholastic journalism?
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