NBC News is accused of ethics breach for their efforts to cover the Goldman story last week.

From the SPJ

The Society of Professional Journalists’ Ethics Committee is appalled NBC News breached widely accepted ethical journalism guidelines by providing the plane that carried David Goldman and his son Sean back to the United States from Brazil after a high-profile custody battle.

NBC conducted an exclusive interview with David Goldman during the flight it financed and another exclusive interview once the Goldmans returned to the United States.

Journalists know this practice as “checkbook journalism.”

The SPJ Code of Ethics urges journalists to act independently by avoiding bidding for news and by avoiding conflicts of interest.

By making itself part of a breaking news story on which it was reporting — apparently to cash in on the exclusivity assured by its expensive gesture — NBC jeopardized its journalistic independence and credibility in its initial and subsequent reports. In effect, the network branded the story as its own, creating a corporate and promotional interest in the way the story unfolds. NBC’s ability to report the story fairly has been compromised by its financial involvement.

“The public could rightly assume that NBC News bought exclusive interviews and images, as well as the family’s loyalty, with an extravagant gift,” Ethics Committee Chairman Andy Schotz said.

The news media’s duty is to report news, not help create it. The race to be first should not involve buying — directly or indirectly — interviews, an unseemly practice that raises questions of neutrality, integrity and credibility.

“Mixing financial and promotional motives with an impartial search for truth stains honest, ethical reporting,” Schotz said. “Checkbook journalism has no place in the news business.”

The SPJ Code of Ethics also urges journalists to “clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.”

“NBC must now, belatedly, explain why it entangled its news reporting and corporate interests in this story, as well as the terms of any deal it made with the Goldman family,” Schotz said. “NBC also is ethically bound to adequately disclose its active role in the story in each of its future reports on the Goldmans.”

NBC defended its actions to B & C

“The Goldmans were invited on a jet NBC News chartered to fly home to the U.S. on Thursday, Dec. 24,” the network told B&C in a statement. “NBC News has followed this story since the Goldman’s story first ran on Dateline nearly one year ago — David Goldman since has appeared on Today seventeen times,” suggesting the news network was simply closing the loop on an extensive association with the Goldmans.  ”NBC News has not and will not pay for an interview.”

NBC got the first exclusive interview with Goldman during the flight for Today Monday.

Maybe NBC didn’t give the Goldmans a check for the interview but it certainly helped their chances in securing the first interview when they provided the plane ride home.  It looks more like a quid pro quo which in my opinion is the same thing as paying for the interview in this case.

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