Ethics takes a holiday: Newsweek, New York Times, Writers in Swag Orgy

Business ethics is a complex issue.  On a day-to-day basis, companies are increasingly faced with issues that can develop into legal problems.  Ethical issues are interrelated with the business world and sometimes there is a thin line where an individual exhibits questionable or bad behavior that can lead to ethical dilemmas potentially damaging an organization’s good name. Other times, the line between acceptable and unacceptable ethics is quite clear and non debatable.   It is obvious that ethical dilemmas be avoided at all costs.  

An example of an ethical dilemma is illustrated in an article written by Jeff Bercovici titled, “Ethics takes a holiday: Newsweek, New York Times, Writers in Swag Orgy.”  Bercovici presents a workplace environment where company employees were faced with temptations that generated issues of ethics’ violations.  Based on this document, there was a business situation where employee’s self control was put to the test and individuals violated the companies’ ethic’s policy.  This was exactly the case where 150 individuals accepted an  all-expenses-paid vacation.  Writers from Newsweek and The New York Times were among those 150 people who accepted this fully paid vacation.

Bercovivi states in the article, “The writers enjoyed a free trip to Jamaica last weekend, courtesy of the consumer e-newsletter Thrillist and JetBlue, among a host of other sponsors.  Those guests received a round-trip flight from JFK International to Montego Bay and two nights at theIberostar Rose Hall resort, where they had beachfront balcony rooms and personal butlers, and overstuffed gift bags ... filled with T-shirts, sunglasses and other goodies (Bercovici).” When Newsweek Magazine learned that reporter Kurt Soller accepted this all-expenses-paid vacation, the firm decided to repay the full amount of the package back to Thrillist since the company determined that their employee violated Newsweek’s ethics’ policy. In contrast, when New York Times learned that their reporter Mike Albo accepted the same      all-expenses-paid vacation, the firm determined no ethics rules were violated.  A New York Times spokeswoman said, “Albo is a freelancer and was not on assignment for the Times, which he made clear to the organizers of the trip.  So we do not see any violation of our rules (Bercovici). " 

However, as Bercovivi points out, “After careful reading of the paper's stringent ethics policy suggests that Albo transgressed the spirit, if not the letter, of the guidelines.  The policy expressly forbids accepting ‘free or discounted transportation and lodging and gifts, tickets, discounts, reimbursements or other benefits’ from individuals or organizations covered (or likely to be covered) by their newsroom.  Those passages are directed at staffers, but further down, the policy decrees that freelancers should accept the same ethical standards as staff members as a condition of their assignments for us.  If they violate these standards, they should be denied further assignments (Bercovici)." After this story was published, New York Times contacted Jeff Bercovici and provided an altered statement depicting that the company was troubled about Mike Albo’s partaking in the trip and the organization would be contacting Mr. Albo to discuss these circumstances.  

What do you think about this situation of potential ethics violation?  Do you think that Mike Albo violated The New York Times ethics’ code of conduct by accepting the all-expenses-paid vacation?  If you feel that Albo violated the company ethics policy, what can the New York Times do to prevent this kind of questionable employee behavior from happening again?

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-Adam Kalkirtz