The Italian government was considering privatizing its television industry. But Gwen Ifill has sharp antennae when it comes to the appearance of impropriety.
The star PBS correspondent on that pillar of MSM highbrow, the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, spotted the issue instantly. She conjured the image of Italian President Silvio Berlusconi, whose night job is television magnate. Brows soberly knitted, she put the penetrating question to her guests: “What should he do to overcome the potential for conflict of interest?”
Bingo! So clear. How could a public figure such as Berlusconi fulfill his fiduciary obligation to the citizens on a matter of great public consequence if he had a private financial stake in the outcome? Why, even if he were scruple personified, even if he played it absolutely straight, wouldn’t the public have a right to wonder whether they’d been had? Wouldn’t such an obvious compromise besmirch the integrity of the process? Wouldn’t citizens properly wonder what else such an ethically insensitive system might rig?
Yes, among the staff at the
Newshour, nothing stirs the pot quite like conflicts of interest . . . at least as long as it’s not a
Newshour star creating a blatant appearance of impropriety.
Search through the
Newshour’s website for the phrases “conflict of interest” and “appearance of impropriety” and one is overwhelmed. Here’s Ifill yet again, wondering whether former Senator Bill Frist’s hospital company stock
represented a conflict of interest
vis a vis his legislative responsibilities. There’s the host himself, Jim Lehrer, asking whether Ken Starr should
step aside as independent counsel due to the “conflict of interest” caused by his representation of tobacco companies.
Keep looking. You’ll quickly learn that “the greatest damage to [Sen. John McCain] is the appearance of impropriety” caused by the maverick reformer’s decision to
opt out of the public campaign financing system. No surprise there. The
Newshour likes campaign finance reform nearly as much as conflicts of interest. Typical is another top correspondent, Margaret Warner,
pressing Sen. Russ Feingold: “So are you saying . . . that you do think this will end or limit the spectacle that so many of you pointed to as at least giving
the appearance of impropriety, or corruption, which is elected officials . . . essentially selling their access to donors who gave big contributions?” (Emphasis added.)
Ah yes, trading favors for access. Self-dealing and windfall profits. These are big no-nos at the
Newshour. The program was chagrined to report that the Senate Ethics Committee had
cited former Senator Robert Toricelli for appearance of impropriety. Warner was moved to highlight an investigation’s condemnation of a U.N. bigwig’s “grave and ongoing conflict of interest” —
overseeing the Oil-for-Food program while telling Saddam Hussein which favored companies should get the business. Another reporter agitated that a House Democrat could be
laboring under a disqualifying conflict of interest: his lobbyist wife represented companies with a stake in legislative matters. Indeed, the
Newshour even found a troubling potential conflict of interest — inviting the possibility of insider trading — when it realized Fortune 500 executives were
sitting on each others boards.
The national pastime is a bit too Middle America for PBS, but it grabbed the
Newshour’s attention when pitcher Roger Clemens
contacted his former nanny during congressional hearings into steroid use. After all, Henry Waxman — a
Newshour fave — was worried about the “appearance of impropriety” in witnesses possibly getting their stories straight. And how ‘bout those wily accounting firms that
seek to do lucrative consulting work for the same companies they audit: “How can that be anything but a conflict of interest?” Correspondent Terrence Smith is concerned about the “conflict of interest” he detects when a reputable press organization
partners with news services owned by the very companies the press should be covering. In turn, Phil Ponce notes that Olympic organizers were forced to
resign over the “appearance of conflict of interest” because they had a financial stake in some of the sites being considered for the games. And lookie here: the Newshour says the
San Francisco Chronicle has even had to
reassign its letters editor because his campaign contributions created a conflict of interest.
On it goes:
Newshour hounds spanning the globe for the constant variety of insider glad-handing . . . but managing to glide silently by their own studio.
Gwen Ifill has somehow been chosen to moderate tonight’s vice-presidential debate between the Republican, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, and Democratic senator Joe Biden, the bottom of the ticket for the Obama campaign. Ifill’s task is to project complete objectivity so the public gets — and can have faith that it is getting — a fair fight.
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