Ethics are as Old-Fashioned as John McCain

Moxie is blogging about Jill Greenberg, the photographer who brags that she tricked John McCain into posing for unflattering photos, so she could make him look “evil” on the cover of The Atlantic.

It’s an interesting situation. Because a member of the leftist media was unfair to a conservative? No, that’s not interesting. That’s routine. It’s interesting because it shows what happens when a profession has no ethical code.

I’ve complained a lot about IT professionals having no code and no oversight. If a hosting company employee or a web designer feels like messing with a customer, the customer has little recourse. There is no bar association to report them to, and litigation is expensive, and generally, you have to prove monetary damages. Unless I’m mistaken, the situation is the same with journalists.

You can’t license journalists. It would be a violation of the first amendment. That means you can’t have a bar association empowered to shut them down for ethical violations. Still, it would be nice if someone drew up a code of ethics to which journalists could voluntarily subscribe. There would be no enforcement power for violations, but at least victims would be able to point to the violations, and other members of the journalistic profession could take note.

Maybe it’s not a practical idea.

We are seeing egregious transgressions these days. US Magazine put a photo of Sarah Palin on its cover, behind the caption “BABIES! LIES! SCANDAL!” Three network anchors accompanied the Democratic Presidential candidate on his trip to Europe. Pundits have uncritically repeated discredited lies about Sarah Palin as truth. I realize it’s impossible to eliminate bias from reporting and commentary; that doesn’t excuse what’s happening. A journalist can be forgiven for involuntarily leaning one way or the other. It’s different when they don’t even try to be objective, or when they deliberately deceive.

The Greenberg case is unusual, because the perpetrator admitted what she had done. It’s too bad that doesn’t happen more often. I still remember the Ann Coulter TIME cover, which was clearly designed to make her look ugly and masculine and old. The people behind it defended it wholeheartedly, which was ridiculous. And we have never heard a good explanation for the troop of anchors on the Obama Europe trip.

I suppose Ms. Greenberg’s actions will end up generating votes for John McCain, just as a history of TV bias by other outlets generated high ratings for Fox News. But we would all be better off if she had never done this in the first place.

Will she pay a price for her actions? No. She might lose a job here and there, but other people will funnel work to her, in solidarity. That’s how the world works. I’ll bet she makes more money in 2009 than she will make in 2008.

It’s a sorry way to treat a candidate. Agree with him or not, he’s not an axe murderer. He doesn’t eat babies. He just tried to win the Presidency. He deserves a fair shake, like anyone else. And so does Barack Obama.

I suppose we should thank Ms. Greenberg for exposing herself by bragging on her blog. I wish the people at US had been that candid.