Ethics Shmethics

Behaving in an ethical manner should not have to be declared as a condition of employment. It comes from within, this knowing of the difference between right and wrong, although organized religion has done a bang-up job of trying to tie it to their ideologies. A child knows the difference. Adult broadcasters know the difference. Some of them just choose to ignore it. 

I’m referring to the recent resignation of Global news anchor Leslie Roberts and the new rules imposed on CBC journalists, such as Amanda Lang. Roberts didn’t disclose that interview subjects on his show were also clients of a PR firm in which he had a financial stake. That’s a no-no. Someone asked me why he would bother resigning over it. My guess is that he was given the choice of resigning or being fired. Resigning is the better way to go.

Amanda Lang, of whom I must say up front I’ve never been a fan, works for the CBC, the public broadcaster, the one funded by you and me. (Whether it’s truly a public broadcaster is a bone of contention of mine but something I won’t get into right now!) She is accused of taking speaking engagements with business clients with whom she later conducted soft-ball interviews on air. Keep in mind that Ms. Lang commands some $15,000 per speech. Those are a lot of reasons to turn your head and be kind to your benefactor. After initially coming to her defence, the CBC now admits it was bad optics and will no longer allow its people to do these types of paid public appearances.

I recently wrote a newspaper column about a product called Measure It! Perhaps some exceedingly observant people noticed that the man behind the marketing of it, Rob Botten, is my brother-in-law. If they did, no one mentioned it. However, when I pitched the idea to my editor a line in my email read, “Note that this product is marketed by Rob Botten of Bronto Marketing who is my brother-in-law!” My editor felt the idea was so good that it didn’t matter.  I make a fraction of Ms. Lang’s appearance fee for writing my column and every word in it was true: I have used Measure It! since before it had a product name. Its inventor gave me a prototype roll many years ago and I couldn’t believe it wasn’t on the market. It was so useful.

My editor appreciated knowing about the relationship up front, instead of it being pointed out to him by someone else later on.I wouldn’t dream of allowing that to happen. It makes the pit of my stomach feel oogie because I know it would be wrong. So what kind of person can ignore that oogie feeling and put their selfish interests first? The kind that will eventually lose their jobs or their lucrative sideline ventures or worst of all, their reputations in the public eye.