The debate over whether or not those in the media should be making political donations hasn’t affected Atlantic Media since they don’t have a policy on this yet.

From the Politico

One way for opinionated journalists to avoid running afoul of their companies’ policies on political donations is if the company doesn’t have one – or at least, hasn’t completed one yet

Take the case of Jonathan Rauch, a senior writer and columnist for the National Journal. No one would have any doubt about where Rauch stood on the issue of gay marriage. His most recent book is titled, “Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America.” In August of 2008, Rauch donated $1,000 to Equality for All: No on Prop 8, a group seeking to defeat the California ballot initiative to change the state constitution to define marriage as only for opposite-sex couples, according to FEC filings.

Is this a problem from the perspective of his employer?

“There was no formal written policy on political donations back then,” said Linda Douglass, the vice president of strategic communications at Atlantic Media. “National Journal is in the midst of developing a formal policy and will communicate it to employees as soon as it is finalized.”

Douglass, a former aide to President Obama, ran into similar issues herself in September, when her husband hosted a fundraiser for Obama at their house. She said at the time she regrets that it was not made clearer that it was only her husband, and not her, who was hosting the fundraiser. However, because Atlantic Media’s policy was still being drafted, she did not break any of her employer’s rules.

Rauch and Douglass are off the hook and it’s possible that the new policy may take into consideration what they have done to avoid potential conflicts but to also make sure what they did wouldn’t be in violation of the new policy.

At the very least Atlantic Media should issue an interim policy so that employees know what they are allowed to do regarding political donations rather than just leave it open until they issue a formal policy.

But that would mean holding the employees accountable which they don’t seem to be too interested in at this time.

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