Paul Sullivan Has A Problem, Pt. 4,018

In the most recent issue of Vine Line the notorious douchebag Paul Sullivan admits something else. You may recall that in spring training he admitted to giving less favorable coverage to those who are mean to him. Seriously, a journalist admitted on air that he writes differently about people based on their level of niceness to him. Sullivan is a journalist, or he is supposed to be anyway. Sullivan is now admitting to actively rooting for the success and failure of people based on whether or not they are nice to Paul. “I do find myself rooting for a particular player, thinking, I hope this guy does well, or I hope this guy gets rocked because he treated me like garbage.” It’s one thing to actively root against someone who treated like **** and another to allow that bias to enter into your work. I realize that. There’s nothing that wrong with Sullivan actively rooting for the failure of someone who treated him like garbage. I don’t think I do it, but that’s just me. I can easily see how someone would feel that way, but the problem becomes when a journalist (Notorious Douchebag Paul Sullivan) admits publicly that he does this shortly after already admitting that he is fairer to those who treat him well. This is from The New York Times Code of Ethics: 24. Relationships with sources require sound judgment and self-awareness to prevent the fact or appearance of partiality. Cultivating sources is an essential skill, often practiced most effectively in informal settings outside of normal business hours. Yet staff members, especially those assigned to beats, must be aware that personal relationships with news sources can erode into favoritism, in fact or appearance. Editors, who normally have a wide range of relationships, must be especially wary of showing partiality. Where friends and neighbors are also newsmakers, journalists must guard against giving them extra access or a more sympathetic ear. When practical, the best solution is to have someone else deal with them. 25. Though this topic defies firm rules, it is essential that we preserve professional detachment, free of any hint of bias. Staff members may see sources informally over a meal or drinks, but they must keep in mind the difference between legitimate business and personal friendship. A city editor who enjoys a weekly round of golf with a city council member, for example, risks creating an appearance of coziness. So does a television news producer who spends weekends in the company of people we cover. Scrupulous practice requires that periodically we step back and look at whether we have drifted too close to sources with whom we deal regularly. The test of freedom from favoritism is the ability to maintain good working relationships with all parties to a dispute. I’m aware the Chicago Tribune Code of Ethics may vary from this, but I don’t really care. If it’s good enough for The New York Times, it’s good enough for all journalists in this country. Paul Sullivan is in clear violation of these ethics. He should be thankful he is not employed The New York Times. Here’s something from the ethics page of Society of Professional Journalists: Seek Truth and Report It Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Sullivan has been honest. Let’s give him that. Unfortunately he was honest that he is not fair in his coverage! Here’s some things from a list that “journalists should do.” — Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible. Do you recall the story Sullivan told us in spring training about how Milton Bradley went ballistic? Do you recall Milton’s actions? MB was not at all happy with the call (he was right), but he did not go ballistic and he did not even confront the umpire. Sullivan deliberately distorted the facts. — Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context. Remember last week when Sullivan titled an entry Milton Bradley has been benched? That was a misrepresentation of what happened and Paul Sullivan knows it. — Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it. Milton Bradley and spring training. Fail! — Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status. Take a look back through Sullivan’s articles over the last 5 years when you have some time to waste. You’re going to find something that is troubling in this day and age: Sullivan covers white players differently than he does minorities. This a problem damn near all journalists have, but at least most of them aren’t as bad as Sullivan is. Under a list for Minimize Harm: — Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity. A good look through Sullivan’s headlines and his opening paragraphs will show you he has no taste. Paul Sullivan is an awful sportswriter as we have talked about around here for a long time now, but he’s also an awful journalist who should be forced to find a new career.