Been a long time since I posted here. Needless to say I've had computer problems and have been very busy at work. I was going to put this in the rant section, but I decided it didn't have enough cussing or flaming in it.

Background (really long so bear with me):
First off, link to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics: http://www.spj.org/ethics_code.asp

I work for a newspaper, and I am a reporter. Reporters are supposed to follow a certain code of ethics (see above). If you hear negative things about reporters, it's probably because they didn't follow the code of ethics.

I have a co-worker that I (used to) hang out with. I never considered her a friend, just someone to do stuff with occasionally (I guess I am hard up for friends).

1) She is the business reporter for our newspaper. She's originally from somewhere out east (New York or something?) and I think that gives her an excuse to act like a total ******* to everyone else. When she calls a source for a story, if they can't give her what she needs, she just hangs up on them. No good bye. No thank you. Just hangs up on them.

2) She has slept with her sources in the past. I wish I were joking. She dated this one guy, slept with him and then wrote a story about his business. She asked me if I thought that was ethical. I said, "Of course not." She then turned to the other reporter, and she said "It's OK as long as you don't quote him for the story." W T F???

3) She talks about her latest lay every chance she gets. She's 40, about 5'1" and 325 lbs (maybe more). She brags about sleeping with 25-year-old supermodels, and different ones each week. I don't care who you sleep with just don't tell me.

4) She was doing a story about a returning soldier from Iraq. The paper ended up scrapping the story because the guy's fiancee called the paper in tears, and complained that this reporter was flirting with her fiancee (I totally believe it). The couple ended up breaking up and to my knowledge, nothing was ever done to this employee.

5) She encourages and accepts freebies from businesses all the time. They send stuff to the newsroom on her behalf. My editors are frustrated but I don't think they have done anything about it. It's frustrating to me to see it happening. She's whoring out my profession.

Despite knowing all this, I was willing to hang out with her on a very infrequent basis (hey I have a life). I was friendly to her, but I usually am to most people anyway.


The issue with the co-irker:

So I am covering a press conference for Garrison Keillor's recent show which was held in Colorado. If you're not familiar with him, he's the guy who does A Prairie Home Companion on NPR. He's really popular around here.

At the press conference, the general manager of the venue came up to me and the paper's photographer and offered us 3 tickets to the show. I was leery at first, "I don't know, I can't take stuff like that."

"Well, they'll go to waste if someone doesn't take them."

A note: the reporter I mentioned earlier apparently really likes Keillor. Why I don't know. But she was prattling on and on for days before the show saying how much she'd love to go. I knew this. I also knew someone else in the building wanted to go with her husband (and probably dozens of others). Even if I didn't go, there were others who wanted to.

This guy was smooth. I *never* take free stuff, and the photog was saying I should too (it *really* sounded harmless at the time). But on the drive home, I got to thinking. It was a bad idea. I shouldn't have taken them in the first place. I have to write stories on this place and me accepting tickets could be perceived as a conflict of interest.

I decided to give said tickets to my editors and let them deal with it. They gave them to the general manager, and the GM decided to give them to someone else. They were out of my hands. I felt good. The world was right again.

Said reporter walks up excitedly toward me "So you have Garrison Keillor tickets for me?"

"No, I decided that accepting them was a breech of ethics. I gave them to the editors."

"F-ing bitch."

About an hour later, I thought she might have cooled down. "Don't you want to hear my side of the story?"

"No, I don't want to talk to you. And no means no."

That was a week ago. She has still not spoken a word to me. I told her, while she acted like I wasn't even there, that I would like to preserve a professional relationship, and said if she had any future problems with my ethics to talk to the editors. No response whatsoever.

All this over Garrison Keillor tickets? How petty can you get? Guess the girl likes her freebies and using people. And to think she complains about people using her, and brags about how her ethics are so great (Doth the lady protest too much?).

Good riddance. I have felt very happy about this whole thing. I have a husband who loves me, people send me emails thanking me for stories I've written and I actually follow a code of ethics. People meet me and change their minds for the better about journalists and have told me so. And I got rid of a leeching, unethical person from my social calendar.

I think what she's doing is very childish and immature, I've never liked any ethical decision she has ever made. She treats others like dirt, and I guess it was my turn. Associating with her was probably not in my best interests anyway (though I am somewhat concerned about her capacity for revenge).

Because she's the business reporter, I usually don't have to talk to her, so that's good. Though I do know that sometimes I will need to ask for source's phone numbers (unpublished ones like cell numbers). I guess when she pulls the mute trick when I need her source information (we share at our paper) I can complain to my bosses.

Wondering what y'all would do in a similar situation.

ROFL, I would start pittying her because she is obviously lying or finding really drunk "supermodels".

****** her, talk to her when you need to for work but other than that ignore the attention whore. Entertaining post by the way.

treat her like the bitch she is.

Co-irker! I get it, it's a joke!

If it's against ethics to accept free tickets for events that you're involved in... how do they get reported on? Does your newspaper have to buy the tickets? This is an honest question, I guess I never thought of that sort of thing as being unethical, and I have seen local reporters with front row seats at events here all the time.

I think you did the right thing though... if you felt it was unethical to take the tickets, it would have been equally as unethical to give them to a fellow reporter. If she loves Garrison Keillor so much, she woulda bought her own tickets rather than relying on handouts. I'd just ignore her. If she's already had similar issues in the office, people know how she is and no one will think badly of you.

On a similar note, we went up to Vermillion SD to see Prairie Home Companion a couple weeks ago. I'm 31, husband is 34, and I'm pretty sure we were the youngest people in the audience.

Professional critics and reporters that are sent to write a review get free tickets. I take it that was not Kinare's focus for this show, however, since she said she was just covering a press conference.

So she's a 325 pound lesbian?

Kinare, do what Seanie said!

I think there are male (super)models too... No, there have to be males ones... My brain will not allow the thought of lesbian supermodels that like 325 pound women... (I could deal with lesbian supermodels though)

If a reporter is covering an event for the paper, they likely are taking copious notes during the performance/sporting event/etc. It's lots different than just sitting there absorbing the atmosphere. After the event, you have to interview people and talk to key people in the performance/sporting event etc. It's work.

We do pay for things like movie tickets (I am pretty sure) for our movie reviewer. Also, if we had a food reviewer (we don't) we'd not want to let the restaurant staff know we were there, and pay for our own meal to be able to report on a more authentic experience.

If there's a luncheon or something, we're supposed to pay for the tickets if we eat food. If we don't eat food, it's common to give journos a free spot so they can report on the event. Again, only if you're working.

Good question

edit: re: lesbian comment. You know I just remembered this. She told me once she thought she was bisexual. She was looking at me all askance. I quickly changed the subject.

Don't they have press-passes or something like that so there is no confusion about who they are and why they are there?

I think OP did the right thing. There has been a big deal lately about radio dj's taking payola to promote certain artists that on their own wouldnt get spin time. I think the situation is similar.

Yes we do have press passes, however our editor threatened to take them away because of complaints for some reporters (IE the chick I am talking about and her friend) have tried to use them to gain free entrance to venues.

Do a report on unethical reporters?

This post is probably about as close to print as the story will ever get heh.

As far as Djs taking pay to promote records...Welcome to the current state of the music industry. I'm heavily into underground hip-hop and I'm good friends with a bunch of somewhat popular artists. The people you hear on hot 97 pay big money to the station so that their songs get played. Its one of the reasons why you hear the same ten songs all the time.

It never used to be like that. In the late 80s/early 90s DJs were responsible for breaking a lot of new artists. Now you pretty much have to rely on the internet, small venue shows, and word of mouth to get your name out there.

It sucks that this is how it is and its ruining hip hop as a whole cause you get zero variety. But thats life I guess...

That's different from my experience as a writer and editor for my college paper. We would receive free passes all the time for special advance screenings of movies for the critics, usually a week or two in advance of the actual release date (so you can have the review written and published by then).

fixed that for ya.

I wasn't sure if things were like that across the whole music scene so I didn't wanna over-extend and have a bunch of people jumping all over me. I was just writing on what I personally am aware of.

If this is also the case across other music genres, it's a pretty sad thing. It's the main reason why I haven't used my FM radio for about seven years...that and because I have about 1000 cds in my car at all times.

The only stations i listen to any more are Talk Radio and a local Bluegrass station. (Well, its about half country, half bluegrass.) But At least only 10% of the stuff is on the current country charts. Most of it is either older stuff (pre-garth.... real country music....) Or obscure stuff that you wouldn't normally hear.

That's why I love my Sirius Satellite Radio.

Vilk

Well, the code is a voluntary one, and it's not like the organization has any ability to discipline or license its members.

How was this woman able to break up a fiancee and a serviceman given her appearance?

Payola has been around for nearly as long as commercial radio. Sometimes it's worse than others, but it's pretty much always there and probably always will be.

Gotta love standing in a studio and looking at the next weeks worth of "listener requests" all neatly typed with expected play times for each song.

I've wondered about this... why more professional trades dont seem to use a licensing system like health care, law, engineering, and even real estate has some enforcable consequences for ethics violations. We even demand it of truck drivers through lower tolerance and higher penalties for off hours DUIs. Certainly it would create a choke point for entering the field, but cases of Jason Blair and what not, would occur a lot less often if there were industrial/trade standards for ethics backed up by arbitration and concrete consequences.

About movie tickets: I am not an entertainment writer and I probably see our movie critic once every month or so, and I've never really asked about it so you're probably right about her getting free tickets to screenings of movies. She does give bad reviews though, so it's not like she's being bought out. I pity whoever had to review "Kung Pow, Enter the Fist" though.

How did she seduce another man away from his fiancee? She's very aggressive and flirty? She is kind of cute in the face, and always dresses really feminine. Other than that, I have no idea. Men are a mystery to me despite the fact that I have been married for eight years myself.

Bitch is as bitch does. She seems to be trying her best to forfeit any due social pretense about being polite. If that's how she wants to play it then so be it, and for god's sake don't get even the slightest bit upset about what the megabitch thinks about you. She's obviously treating people like dirt. People like that get the bare minimum that's absolutely required from me and if they push it not even that.

Send a letter describing just what you put in your original message to Tom Martino... This sort of thing might be right up his alley... Then again, I've heard *interesting* stories about his ethics in many of the same situations.

Frankly, I find your coworkers behaviour appalling... As a resident and avid reader who happens to live in the same area as you I would hope that the papers would adhere to the standards and ethics of professional journalism, as you have done... and fire that woman.

More than a little unnerving to find out that a writer whose columns I have most likely read on more than one occassion is completely devoid of the ethics and morality we, the public, rely upon her to have and uphold.

Reminds me of the novella The Misfit. To paraphrase: 'She'd have been a good woman if someone had killed her everyday.'

She's a personally self involved person who doesn't get, won't ever get it, unless it's forced on her.

Personally, I'd avoid her like the plague. When she speaks to you, wait a few secords and just walk away from her, no explaination given. No matter what she says or does, she's doing it for effect and it's useless if she doesn't have an audience. Keep everything in detail in a journal as a CYA including things you tell your boss.

I'd *feel* like slashing her tires. Not that I ever would. I'd steam about it like you are. But honestly, no one is worth that kind of effort or loosing your own ethics.

Co-opting "co-irker".

Hey now, talk like that is how "accidents" happen!