Deconstructing the Bob Greene Affair (See "Journalistic Ethics" at Work!)

Newsweek Web Exclusive ^ | September 25, 2002 | Seth Mnookin

[Timesink]

Sept. 25 —  A sickly schadenfreude is pervading the coverage of Bob Greene’s swift demise. A little over two weeks ago, Greene was one of the country’s best-paid journalists, writing a four-times-a-week syndicated column for the Chicago Tribune. Then, on Sunday, Sept. 15, a 1988 hotel-room encounter with a teenager came to light.

GREENE RESIGNED, apologizing for his “indiscretions.” The Tribune covered the story on its front page. Since then, Chicago’s been awash in gleefully salacious tales of Greene’s other purported extramarital affairs: Steve Dahl, a Chicago shock jock, invited women who were willing to divulge the details of their dalliances to call in to his show last Wednesday. Meanwhile, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg, who was a guest on Dahl’s show, penned one of the year’s tawdriest columns, detailing one woman’s description of her affair with Greene.

But the press can only fixate on a sex scandal qua sex scandal for so long; even editors eventually end up feeling a little tawdry. So, not surprisingly, l’affaire Greene has evolved from being a story about a moralizing columnist’s tryst with a teenager to a story about a venerable newspaper’s behavior when faced with a scandal in its midst.

The Tribune hasn’t acquitted itself well. Forced to explain why it was getting rid of a columnist who seemingly hadn’t broken any laws or codified newsroom rules, management insisted Greene wasn’t fired, he quit. When asked why an outfit devoted to newsgathering was being so stingy with the facts, the Tribune said it had to respect the privacy of the people involved. And when queried as to why Greene wasn’t forced out a long time ago if his behavior was so wrong, editors said, well, they never knew. Let’s look at these, one by one.

[Timesink]

Since it's Newsweek, I can only post the first few paragraphs. But I strongly suggest you go read the whole article, and see just how shameful and bankrupt the concept of "journalistic ethics" is in the 21st Century. Largely, it's "Do as I say, not as I do."

[SBeck]

Sort of like CEO ethics, yes? Bottom line, it stinks everywhere.

[HassanBenSobar]

Journalistic "ethics". French "resistance". military "intelligence".

Shall I go on?

[Thebaddog]

There really has to be way more to the story than has been aired to date. He turned the FBI on the girl and that seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back, but it has to get way better from there.

[robertpaulsen]

Further along in the article, the author asks some excellent questions:

"Why, after 14 years, did a woman who seems to have had, at most, a handful of encounters with Greene, contact him? What did she want? Why did Greene call the FBI? What did the woman’s e-mail to the Tribune’s tip line say?"

If Bob Greene were a "personality" at a major corporation (or a congressional Republican), the Tribune would be all over this story, and would never let go. Major hypocrisy!

[lainie]

Limousine liberal elitism. Same diff.