Ombudsman: Selling out or just the facts?

One of the dirty little secrets of journalism is reporters' and editors' enjoyment of a wide variety of "perks" provided to them by the subjects they cover.\nThese benefits include everything from complimentary compact discs and movie passes to all-expenses-paid trips to New York City -- such as the one IDS campus editor Michael Eisenstadt recently took. \nThat trip was paid for by Goldman Sachs, a New York-based global investment firm that sent recruiters to the Kelley School of Business Oct. 10. Appearing in that day's edition of the IDS was both a news article about Goldman Sachs, written by Eisenstadt, and a full-page advertisement promoting the firm's recruiting event.\nPrefacing the article was an editor's note disclosing the fact that Goldman Sachs subsidized Eisenstadt's visit to the firm's Wall Street headquarters. When I talked to Eisenstadt about his trip, he told me it lasted "barely 24 hours." He flew to New York Thursday, Oct. 5, conducted interviews and toured the firm Friday, and then flew back to Indiana that evening.\n"One helpful thing was meeting and talking to many people that I would not have gotten to interview over the phone," Eisenstadt said. "I got to see how things work there, and seeing it firsthand gave me a very good sense of the organization."\nStill, all of that just for a news story designed to call attention to an upcoming campus event? Cynical readers might conclude IDS news coverage goes only to the highest bidder. \nNews for sale? It's not that simple. \nJournalists must have some sort of financial support to engage in newsgathering and other work-related activities, whether it's a trip to a Wall Street investment firm for face-to-face interviews, or an evening at the opera for the next day's theatre review. Trust me when I saythe majority of reporters and editors do not make enough money to afford such excursions on a regular basis.\nMost of the time, a reporter's employer will pick up the tab, such as when the IDS sent two of its student journalists to Centre College in Kentucky to cover the activities surrounding the recent vice presidential debate. During my own journalistic experience, I've regularly been reimbursed for mileage, long-distance phone calls and hotel- and food-related expenses -- it's not at all unusual or uncommon.\nBut news organizations are also businesses, and as such, they can't always afford to pay for certain things associated with and often necessary to the gathering and reporting of news.\nThe IDS is no different. It relies on revenue derived from advertising sales to function, and those funds must be budgeted and dispersed accordingly. While I am merely this newspaper's ombudsman and not its business manager, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that trips to Wall Street investment firms are probably not covered by the IDS travel budget.\nEnter Goldman Sachs. The firm has recruited at IU for the past 20 years and, according to Eisenstadt's article, it employs 76 IU alumni worldwide. These alumni, in addition to being good ambassadors for IU, probably contribute healthy donations to the University. \nThis year Goldman Sachs plans to recruit students from the liberal arts and other academic backgrounds, as well those from the Kelley School of Business. So, the incentive to allow the firm to recruit on campus is significant. And thus the IDS probably felt compelled to report on this event, considering its newsworthiness, potential to affect many soon-to-be IU graduates and, lest we forget the power of the almighty dollar, the fact that Goldman Sachs took out a full-page ad in the IDS to promote its recruiting event.\nIn constructing the above analysis, I'm not being cynical, I'm just telling it as it is, so to speak. Newspapers often "reward" big advertisers with news coverage. It's a fact of life. I've seen it up close and personal. In fact, just last summer I was advised to write a feature story about a grocery store primarily because it was a frequent and loyal advertiser with the newspaper for which I was working at the time.\nAre such practices unethical? Was the IDS rewarding Goldman Sachs for spending big bucks on a full-page ad? Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps such decisions are best left to the readers. \nEisenstadt's comments about his reporting reflect nothing but good intentions. "The basis or nature of the story was the fact that (Goldman Sachs was) coming here to recruit," Eisenstadt said. "We thought it was a chance to relay to students the fact that (Goldman Sachs) had opportunities for students not just from business backgrounds."\nAs for his trip to New York, I think it was, at worst, unnecessary and frivolous, but it certainly wasn't unethical.