Born to Fund? Editors Bar Reporters from Big Election Concerts

By: Joe Strupp "You hear the voices telling you not to go," Bruce Springsteen sang in "Prove It All Night," but no one has to worry about that in Cleveland, at least.

In that city, home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Editor Doug Clifton of The Plain Dealer has no problem with his staffers attending one of the upcoming Vote For Change concerts that are raising funds for Sen. John Kerry. "I don't see it so much as a political statement, more as an entertainment thing," said Clifton, whose city will host the tour, which includes Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, and others, on Oct. 2. "We haven't restricted people from going to it."

But Clifton appears to be in the minority among his peers. Interviews with newspaper editors from some of the 30 cities where the political concerts will be held next month (including Detroit, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.) reveal that nearly all consider the shows to be a conflict of interest for some, if not all, of their editorial staffers. One editor even offered to reimburse an employee for two tickets the reporter's wife had bought for a show.

In at least three cases, memos have been sent to newsroom employees urging them to avoid the concerts or barring them outright from going.

?We consider this a political fund-raiser,? said Carole Leigh Hutton, editor of the Detroit Free Press, who issued a memo on Aug. 20, the day before tickets went on sale for an Oct. 3 show in the Motor City, which will include Springsteen. ?We said, ?if you cover politics or are in any way in your position influencing, affecting or touching politics -- that would include copyediting, writing headlines, and designing pages -- it is a pretty clear conflict.?

Hutton issued a similar memo earlier this week advising editorial employees about certain performances of the play ?Laura?s Bush? which will raise money for moveon.org.

In addition, any Free Press staffers who attend the events -- even if they don?t have an existing conflict -- would be barred from future reporting on a political story during this campaign. ?We told people to discuss it with their supervisor if they are not sure,? Hutton added. ?It should be considered the same as buying a ticket to a $100-per-plate fund-raiser for a local politician.?

In St. Louis, where concerts will take place on Oct. 5 and Oct. 6, Editor Ellen Soeteber of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch put limits on those who cover politics and related issues. ?Anybody who is involved in covering or making decisions about politics cannot go,? she said. ?If a food writer goes, I don?t have a problem with it, as long as they do not promote their link to the Post-Dispatch.?

At The Washington Post, Executive Editor Leonard Downie, Jr. -- a longtime proponent of zero tolerance on conflict of interest -- issued a memo last month barring the purchase of these concert tickets by any editorial employees, even before the Oct. 11 concert in the nation?s capital was scheduled. ?That is consistent with our ethics policy,? he told E&P. ?It says you cannot engage in any political acts except voting.?

One of the most restrictive edicts came from Tom Fiedler, executive editor of The Miami Herald, who ordered that no reporters or editors attend at all. ?The directive was that if you are tempted to go to these concerts -- don?t,? said Fiedler. ?The reality is that they are directly tied to a political purpose. In that regard, people would be -- in effect -- making a contribution to a political organization.?

Fiedler said he even offered to reimburse the cost of two tickets that a political writer?s wife had bought for the couple. ?He said he would accept our request not to go,? Fiedler added. The editor said some staffers ?felt it was too sweeping,? but most supported it.

In Minneapolis, Minn., Managing Editor Scott Gillespie of The Star-Tribune wrote a memo urging editorial staffers to avoid the concert scheduled for nearby St. Paul on Oct. 5, but stopped short of banning anyone from going outright.

?I hope people will realize it is a fund-raiser,? Gillespie said. ?I?m hopeful that the news staff members won?t attend. But we are not going to bar anyone from doing it. We won?t be at the door looking for them among the crowd.?

But Gillespie's memo, which drew an angry response from local guild leaders, seemed to indicate staffers were barred from going to the show. "buying a ticket and attending a fund-raising event such as the October concert is a real conflict," the memo said, in part. "It should be obvious that we can't engage in campaign activities."

Not everyone, besides Clifton, had taken a strong stand on the issue. At The Philadelphia Inquirer, Editor Amanda Bennett had not even considered the issue, even the though the first concert of the tour is slated for her city on Oct. 1. ?It hasn?t even crossed my desk,? she said.

Gary Hill, chair of the ethics committee of the Society of Professional Journalists, took the hard-line approach when asked about the issue. He stressed that appearance of a conflict must be handled as seriously as the actual conflict. ?I can understand the sensitivity of editors who are saying, ?why give critics an opportunity to point out a potential conflict?,? said Hill. ?I believe it would not influence coverage, but the appearance is there.?

Aly Colon, who teaches ethics at The Poynter Institute, saw more of a gray area in the concert debate, but believed efforts to eliminate an appearance of conflict are hard to oppose. ?It presents a definite potential perception problem,? he said. ?What is most important is the credibility of the paper.?