Will Political Concerts Re-ignite Ethics Debate?

By: Joe Strupp So will any reporters pay to get into the Barack Obama benefit concert by Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel on Oct. 16 in New York -- or any of the other election campaign concerts sure to take place in this month?

And if they do, will they be suspended, fired, or otherwise reprimanded for essentially contributing to the Obama campaign by way of their ticket?

Perhaps. Four years ago, a series of concerts by Springsteen and others that were touted as fundraisers for then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry sparked debate over what constitutes conflict of interest and personal activities.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press suspended two reporters in 2004 for attending one of the pro-Kerry "Vote for Change" concerts that raised money for political causes. The move prompted a formal grievance at the time by the Newspaper Guild.

Vicki Gowler, then-editor of the Pioneer Press, had issued a warning memo to staffers not to attend the concerts headlined by Springsteen and others if their beats suggested a potential conflict. Because their assignments spanned such a broad spectrum, Gowler considered the two suspended scribes to be in conflict. "They get involved in covering things that relate to politics and elections," Gowler, now editor of The Idaho Statesman in Boise, said at the time. ?

In fact, Gowler said then that she had been planning to assign one of the reporters to follow a story surrounding a new computer voting system for Minnesota that involved a Republican Secretary of State.

"I don't know how I would explain to readers if they challenged why one of these reporters was covering a Republican state officeholder on a controversial state issue," Gowler said then. "We had to assign someone out of the political reporting team."?

Other papers in 2004 took the issue on. The Washington Post and The Miami Herald barred all employees from attending the concerts, while 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 Star Tribune of Minneapolis had "strongly discouraged" but did not forbid attendance.

But in Cleveland, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Doug Clifton, who was editor of The Plain Dealer at the time, had no problem with his staffers attending a show. "I don't see it so much as a political statement, more as an entertainment thing," Clifton told E&P in 2004.

So far, the issue has not raised a lot of attention with just one major concert set so far but many to come. But if it does, Guild President Bernie Lunzer -- elected earlier this year -- admits it will require some careful tightrope walking.

"There is still a lot of back-and-forth on this in the industry," he told E&P Wednesday. "We believe there are a lot of people at newspapers who can be politically active. Our general rule of thumb is that unless there is a direct conflict, we don't see a problem."

But, he adds, "we don?t want to do anything that affects the impartiality of the product." He notes that is one reason the Guild does not endorse candidates for political office.