These Reporters Not Born to Fund

By: Joe Strupp More than 25 years ago in "Prove It All Night," Bruce Springsteen sang, "You hear the voices telling you not to go," and never has that been more true than in this election season. Editors at many of the cities to host, in coming days, the big Vote for Change fund-raising rock concerts, headlined by Springsteen, have ordered some of their reporters not to attend.

The problem: ethics policies in many cases forbid contributions to political candidates by some editorial employees.

The Washington Post and Miami Herald barred all employees from attending. The Detroit Free Press and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, among others, limited the ban to those who cover politics in any shape or form. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune says it is strongly discouraging but not forbidding attendance.

But in Cleveland, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Editor Doug Clifton of The Plain Dealer has no problem with his staffers attending the Oct. 2 show. "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 also features Bonnie Raitt, Pearl Jam, John Mellencamp, R.E.M., and other artists.