[conservative in nyc]

This was the first time, some said, that the Web logs were engaging in their own form of investigative journalism - and readers, they warned, should be cautious.

"The mainstream press is having to follow them," said Jeffrey Seglin, a professor at Emerson College in Boston. "The fear I have is: How do you know who's doing the Web logs?

"And what happens when this stuff gets into the mainstream, and it eventually turns out that the '60 Minutes' documents were perfectly legitimate, but because there's been so much reporting about what's being reported, it has already taken on a life of its own?"

Huh? How do you know who CBS's source is and whether it really is "unimpeachable"? And why would all of the non-anonymous experts contacted by the MSM other than CBS be lying, yet CBS allegedly has 2 unnamed experts backing them up?

[Robert A Cook PE]

Jeffrey L. Seglin writes "The Right Thing," a weekly column on general ethics syndicated by the New York Times Syndicate. In the column, he regularly offers solutions to ethical dilemmas posed by readers who Email him at rightthing@nytimes.com.

He is the author of The Right Thing: Conscience, Profit and Personal Responsibility in Today’s Business (Spiro, 2003). It was named as one of the "Best Business Books of 2003" by the Library Journal. It is a collection of the first four years of “The Right Thing,” which until January 2004 had been a monthly business ethics column he wrote for the Sunday New York Times Money and Business pages since 1998. He is also the author of The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart (Wiley, 2000). Both books can be ordered by clicking on the links to the left.

Seglin is an associate professor at Emerson College in Boston where he is the director of the graduate program in publishing and writing. He was an ethics fellow at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in 2001 and a resident fellow at the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard in 1998-99.

He is the author or co-author on more than a dozen books on business and writing. He has written for publications including the New York Times, Fortune, FSB, Salon.com, Time.com, Sojourners, MIT's Sloan Management Review, Harvard Management Update, Business 2.0, ForbesASAP, CIO, CFO, MBA Jungle, among others. He regularly contributes commentaries to Public Radio's Marketplace.

Prior to 1998, he was an executive editor at Inc magazine. He began working at the magazine as a senior editor in 1989.

He holds a masters degree in theological studies from The Divinity School at Harvard University.



If you'd like to subscribe to Seglin's listserv to receive occasional Email updates about his column and other ethics issues, send an email to:

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In the subject line and in the first line of the message body, type:

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It's important to remember not to include any space in the workplaceethics and to include both your first and last name.

The Good, the Bad, and Your Business: Choosing Right When Ethical Dilemmas Pull You Apart on amazon.com


The Poynter Institute, Essay on Media Codes of Ethics

Contact Information

Name: Jeffrey L. Seglin

Email:
Phone: jseglin@post.harvard.edu
617.824.8240

[planekT]

Excellent point about CBS not revealing their source of the copies of the FORGED documents, while Mr. knowitallharvardeducatedidiot worries about Buckheads credibility. What a moron.

I think I heard Brit Hume say CBS spent six weeks on this piece of propaganda. It only took about 48 hours to completly demolish it. Brit Hume is certain that the documents are indeed forgeries.

At this point, if this fellow wants to attack someones credibility, he can start with Brit Hume.

And most importantly, if he is going to insist that the CBS documents are not forgeries, then let him show his proof.

Bring it on or shut up.