Reuters Breakingviews scandal may impact other media

Jonathan Berr of DailyFinance.com writes about how the stock trading scandal at Reuters Breakingviews, in which a columnist resigned after trading in stocks he wrote about, might impact media in which its content appears.

Berr writes, “The New York Times, for its part, is clearly annoyed with its content partner for allowing its writers to violate journalism norms, even though Reuters’s own internal policies explicity forbid the actions undertaken by the writers at Breakingviews. Other organizations are probably fuming as well.

“‘We are looking into it,’ says New York Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty in an email. ‘The Times takes any sort of financial conflict very seriously… An initial review identified three Breakingviews articles published in The Times in the last year on subjects in which the writer had a financial interest. We will append an appropriate disclaimer on those stories. Editors of The Times are working with Reuters Breakingviews on a full accounting of material in The Times. ‘

“As news budgets continue to shrink, the scandal at Reuters Breakingviews underscores how dependent media organizations have become on outside contributors who may not share their ethical standards. Without such contributors, the Times and other organizations would cease to function. But ties should be cut if they prove to be more trouble then they are worth.”