"And Throw Your Integrity in There Too..."

A small but instructive example of how journalistic ethics are getting dinged. From a good friend...

Last year, a very large state-wide newspaper in a Southern state planned to do a typical treacly holiday story about a fire department collecting toys for underprivileged kids. After a few weeks of collecting the toys, come Christmas-time, the paper's photographer goes to snap pics of all the toys the good firemen have gotten, only to see that the boxes at the fire station are empty. Not one toy has been donated. The photographer goes and tells an editor, "The Grinch took them all!" or something to that effect.

So the editor responds: "Well, Ms. Photog, you've got kids, right?"

Photog: "Yes..."

Editorialista: "And they've got toys, don't they?"

Photog: "Yes, but-"

Editorialista: "Well, go grab some of your tykes' toys, chuck them in the boxes, and take some pictures."

I was also told at least one story about newspapers becoming much less embarrassed about horsetrading copy for ads. Unfortunately, the spluttering bladder that is the economy can show how flimsy journalistic pretensions are. Pen > sword, except when we're stabbing ourselves in the eyes with it like circus freaks for dollars.