This week readers may have found it surprising to learn that a reporter with the Fitzhugh was a board member with the Friends of Jasper National Park, an organization that found itself at the centre of a story in this week’s paper.
While the story speaks for itself, the larger issue was the conflict of interest between our newspaper and the Friends of Jasper, an organization that has a close relationship with Parks Canada, a government agency.
After a series of discussions within our newsroom and others in the community, it became clear that just about everyone has a different opinion about whether or not a journalist should be part of an organization’s board.
While the issue might seem trivial to some, it’s actually a broader ethical question that is fundamental to journalism.
At its core, the question is about impartiality and protecting the public interest.
Being impartial means not being prejudiced towards or against any particular side regardless of your opinion, experiences or affiliations.
But here’s the problem. Can anyone, let alone a journalist, truly claim to be 100 per cent impartial?
The answer is no, but there are ways journalists attempt to be as impartial or objective as possible.
At one end of the spectrum there are journalists who don’t vote or wear a poppy on Remembrance Day, claiming that by doing so would hurt their impartiality when covering political stories or the military.
At the other end of the spectrum some journalists would argue that impartiality is a fallacy and all reporters are tainted to some degree by their opinions, experiences and perspectives of the world.
While both sides present a valid argument, the general rule is that reporters should strive to remain as impartial as possible by not joining organizations that could jeopardize their impartiality, whether perceived or not.
In a perfect world this would be easy, but we all run into conflicts of interest from time-to-time, especially in a small community like Jasper.
On one hand, journalists are human beings and should have the right to participate in civil society as they please, but on the other hand, they also have a responsibility to the public interest, so where do we draw the line?
From our perspective, simply being a member of an organization or volunteering isn’t an issue, in fact we encourage it, but when it comes to sitting on a board where reporters are privy to confidential information, the chances of running into a conflict of interest puts everyone in an awkward situation, including the organization.
We recognize that limiting our participation with community organizations will be seen by some as a loss, but ultimately if we want a strong, fair and independent newspaper it’s in all of our interest that reporters and editors avoid joining decision-making bodies.
