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Originally Posted by mandy
I have been reading and re-reading this thread trying to come up with a suitable answer...
I am a journalist. And I feel that if a presidential candidate offered a group of the media an all expenses paid week to some exotic resort of whatever, I will have no problem accepting. There's no interviews, no political content whatsoever. Nothing is on the record.
Now personally, i dont see the problem with that. Where the problem does come in, is when it affects your judgement, when it affects your ability to be the watchdog of the govenment (cos thats what journalists are), when it clouds your head with "ooh he gave me a free week at an exotic resort so let me give him a bit of good publicity in the paper" BULL SHIT!!!
Now, some people might see that as being two faced...and thats fine.
But as long as my two faced behavior does not comprimise my beliefs, morals, values and journalistic integrity to report in an honest and fair manner, to be the watchdog for the government, and not be biased, and not pass judgement, and just disregard everything i was taught on how to be a journalist, then free weekend with no strings attached, here I come!
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Well, I have two responses to that, which are pretty much my responses to The_Jazz above...
o It's human nature to be grateful when someone does something nice for you, and thus to have a more favorable outlook on them - AKA a bias towards them. That bias may not show up as a tit-for-tat transaction, but a kinder tone in your reporting of that candidate, or casting his actions in a more positive light, etc.
o Even if you are capable of not being biased towards someone who as done something nice to you, doesn't the appearance of impropriety bother you?
I don't mean this personally, but I wouldn't ever trust a reporter who accepted such an offer to report in an unbiased manner on the candidate in question - and would question their judgment on other reporting as well. Just as I wouldn't trust a politician who let the entertainment industry pay for a vacation to a 5-star resort to regulate the same entertainment industry. Even if he/she is one of those magical people who isn't biased towards people who have done nice things for him or her, the appearance of bias is enough for me.