NPR created a bit of a stir in Washington this week when they issued a memo to staffers reminding them that they were not allowed to participate in the upcoming rallies being hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

Now other news organizations have issued similar edicts for the first time in recent memory.

From Yahoo! News

The Upshot reached out to several other news organizations to see if they have similar restrictions. An ABC spokesman said that the network has the same policy as NPR and that journalists will be on hand to cover the event, not attend it.

An NBC News spokeswoman responded in a statement: “NBC News prohibits employees who function in an editorial role from participating at partisan events, however on a case by case basis we have permitted msnbc hosts to participate in such events.”

And the Washington Post sent out the following memo Thursday to newsroom managers in order to answer staff questions on the subject:

“Events, like those organized by Glenn Beck or involving Jon Stewart and Steven [sic] Colbert, are political, and therefore Post newsroom employees may not participate. By participate, we mean that Post newsroom employees cannot in any way put themselves in a position that could be construed as supporting (or opposing) that cause. That means no T-shirts, buttons, marching, chanting, etc.  This guideline does not prohibit Post newsroom employees from observing — that is, watching and listening from the sidelines. The important thing is that it should be evident to anyone that you are observing, as journalists do, not participating, whether you are covering the event or not.”

UPDATE: A New York Times spokeswoman responded in a statement: “Yes, we would view these at least in part as political events (despite the comic/satirical elements) and would treat them under our guidelines that advise staffers to avoid such events if they could raise any questions about our impartiality.”

The Times guidelines state the following: “Staff members may not march or rally in support of public causes or movements, sign ads taking a position on public issues, or lend their name to campaigns, benefit dinners or similar events if doing so might reasonably raise doubts about their ability or The Times’s ability to function as neutral observers in covering the news.”

These memo’s probably put a damper on the plans of many journalists who were planning on attending as private citizens and were unaware of any policies barring their participation in events like this since they had not been widely publicized until now.

This may appear to mean that we are to expect fair and balanced coverage of events like this going forward but I wouldn’t bet on it based on past experience despite the policies.

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