Francke EvolvingWatchdogMedias 1995

American Academy of Political and Social Science
The Evolving Watchdog: The Media's Role in Government Ethics

Author(s): Warren Francke
Source: The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 537,
Ethics in American Public Service (Jan., 1995), pp. 109-121
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of
Political and Social Science
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ANNALS, AAPSS, 537, January 1995
The Evolving Watchdog:

The Media's Role in Government Ethics
By WARREN FRANCKE
ABSTRACT: The mass media's influence on the ethics of public life,

as characterized by the press's watchdog role in monitoring the
conduct of government officials, is assumed to be vital to democracy.
The effectiveness of this watchdog role is less clearly understood.
Partial answers are found in the evolving institutional history of the
press, including its control, ethics, laws, technology, organization, and
the content of news stories. Just as reporters rarely discuss their
ethics in terms of teleology and deontology, the press does not concep-
tualize in sophisticated terms its impact on the ethics of public
employees. It traditionally finds motivation from the popular belief
in watchdog success models from muckraking to Watergate. As par-
tisanship, news values, and reporting techniques evolve, effective-
ness varies. Research sheds light on media trends but focuses more
on presidents than county clerks, more on political campaigns than
government process. Optimism, as new doors and new technology
open to reporters, is tempered by competition from the marketplace
and the new digital feast promised consumers.
Warren Francke is professor of communication at the University of Nebraska at

Omaha. Past head of the History Division of the Association for Education in Journal-
ism and Mass Communication, he serves as contributing editor to Journalism History,
publishing there and in Journalism Quarterly. His media criticism appeared in
newspaper columns and the television commentary "Watching the Watchdogs" during
the 1980s.
109
110 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
Journalism students
THE mass media's influence onbegin
the with a ba-
sic is
ethics of public life reporting
assumedclass, then
to take "Re-
porting of
be significant. Measuring Publicrole
this Affairs."
is The most
celebrated reporting
another matter. Traditional assump- of the nine-
teenth century
tions begin with Jefferson's exposed New York's
justifica-
tion for the First Amendment to the Tweed Ring and, in the twentieth,
Bill of Rights, giving the press pri- Watergate.
macy as the watchdog of government, The more famous episodes of
and continue in such classic forms as watchdogging suggest an easy an-
Cater's summary: "The American swer to the crucial question, If the
fourth estate operates as a de factopress role is important, is it effective?
quasiofficial fourth branch of govern-The full paradigm preferred by media
ment, its institutions no less impor- researchers asks, "Who said what in
tant because they have been devel-which channel to whom with what
oped... haphazardly."' effects?"3 and it is common to treat
Tweed and Watergate as evidence of
Cater's observation became a vice
president's indignation when Spiropowerful media effects. Mass com-
Agnew attacked these impudent andmunication theorists, however, cau-
unappointed guardians of democracy. tion against such conclusions: effects
Earlier, the haphazard press role are easily assumed but uncertainly
worried a less partisan Walter proven.4
Lippmann, troubled by inadequate This attempt to understand press
influence on public sector ethics em-
pictures in the heads of a self-govern-
ing people. Not a barking watchdog,braces complexity and searches for
answers in the media's institutional
Lippmann's press was "like the beam
history, ranging from partisan con-
of a spotlight that moves restlessly
trol to news content, from ethics to
about, bringing one episode and then
laws, from technology to organiza-
another out of darkness into vision."2
tional trends. It assumes that the
effectiveness of the press varies as
EVIDENCE OF THE MEDIA ROLE
key variables evolve over time and
Mundane evidence beneath the that future impact depends on which
traits rise and fall. Will computer-
metaphors accents the centrality of
assisted searches of government data
the media role in monitoring the con-
soon overshadow the news values
duct of government.
that favor more sensational cover-
The police courts were the first
age of the personal behavior of pub-
regular assignment for the first re-
lic officials? Or will the commercial
porters in the 1830s, and custom still
identifies local news beats as "copvalues of tabloid journalism shape
the future?
shop," courthouse, and city hall.
1. Douglass Cater, The Fourth Branch of 3. Harold Lasswell et al., The Comparative
Government (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1959),Study of Symbols (Stanford: Stanford Univer-
p. 13. sity Press, 1952).
2. Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (New 4. Denis McQuail, Mass Communication
York: Macmillan, 1930), p. 364. Theory, 2d ed. (London: Sage, 1987), p. 251.
THE EVOLVING WATCHDOG 111
ETHICS UNEXAMINED, role, but by the seat of their pants:

MOTIVES QUESTIONED
very indirectly as the product of mul-
I have never heard newspeople discusstiple institutional forces that shape
mixed rule deontology, or anything re-the content of newspapers, maga-
motely resembling it. zines, and broadcast news.
Donald Gillmor5 Meanwhile, that role will be ex-
Ethicists divide the normative de- pressed in the traditional metaphors:
watchdogs warning the public to
cision making of both journalists and
throw the rascals out. In one vari-
public servants into teleology and
ation, investigative journalists "alert
deontology, then acknowledge the be-
the public to take appropriate ac-
havioral reality that slip-slides be-
tion," and they "provide for the pres-
tween firm rules and consequences.
ervation of democracy."' Even when
Thus mixed-rule deontology is de-
rather grandly proclaimed, this func-
rived as a category for scholars and
tion is supported by a public ambiva-
one never to cross the lips of those
lent about certain practices.
nouveaux Front Page types, who
Generally, Americans believe that
have progressed from feet propped on
pressroom desks to fingers poised news coverage is too negative and,
over computer keyboards. particularly, that watchdogs bark too
Perhaps the next generation of loud and too long about petty wrong-
journalists, as comfortable in cyber- doing by public officials, namely, pri-
space as the cop shop, will call up vate misbehavior. When the press in-
software that intersects the ethical sists on purity of motives-serving
guidelines of the Society of Profes- the people's right to know the
only
sional Journalists with those of the truth-the people reserve the right to
National Municipal League or thebe skeptical. Experience suggests
Council on Government Ethics Law.6 that other motives may be at work,
and, if citizens look too readily for
More likely, newspeople still will not
discuss anything remotely resem- political or ideological bias, not to
bling this; they will still considermention profit motives, as causal
variables, so often do journalists and
their concept of the public interest in
competition with the motives of ad-public employees.
ministrators, and they will continue
to shape public sector ethics, not MUCKRAKING MODELS
through direct analysis of the media OF SUCCESS
5. Donald Gillmor, "A Look at Media Eth-

Historians treat the muckraking
ics," Media Ethics, 6(1):1, 21 (Fall 1993).
decade,
6. The 1987 update of the Society of Pro-
1902-12, as the peak of jour-
nalistic
fessional Journalists Code of Ethics appears in influence on public life, bu
popular
many publications including Melvin Mencher, notions of the media as a
Basic Media Writing, 4th ed. (Dubuque,cause IA:
of sociopolitical effects are not
Wm. C. Brown, 1993), p. 419. For public service
confined
ethics codes, see Carol W. Lewis, "Ethics and to this period. Tom Paine'
Ethics Agencies," in Ethics and Public Admin-
7. James H. Dygert, The Investigative
Journalist (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice
istration, ed. H. George Frederickson (Armonk,
NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1993), pp. 136-57. Hall, 1976), p. viii.
So it was when the muckrakers

essays inspired George Washington's
seemed to reformbook
troops; Harriet Beecher Stowe's America. One en-
freed the slaves; some mixcredited
thusiast of New Phillips's "Treason
York Times reporting of and Nast
the Senate" car-
series with a key part
toons drove the TweedinRing from
the passage of-constitutional
of three
fice; and "Woodstein" amendments,12
forced Richard and Sinclair's meat-
Nixon to resign the presidency.8
packing novel is routinely connected
If more sophisticated to cause-effect
pure-food legislation. In his Age of
theories appeal to historiographers,
Reform, Hofstadter awarded these
common beliefs about the and
reporters power of
their "business of expo-
reporting have influence
sure" not contin-
the central role in the Progres-
sive movement.13
gent on scientific proof or scholarly
consensus. Anineteenth-century edi- journalistic
In short, a particular
tor reflected on the Tweed
form at exposures,
a point in history powerfully
"I imagine that the brilliant success
influenced public policy, primarily by
of those attacks on the Tweed
exposing Ring
corruption and conflicts of
has had something to do with
interest. the
The result was reform by
newspaper tendency replacing
whichbad has de- with better
officials
veloped so stronglyones
inbut
the last
also by 25 distributive
exposing
years--that, namely, of finding
injustices, some-
reform by pushing fairer
thing to expose."' Whether oradministration
legislation and not of
Uncle Tom's Cabin caused the laws.
Civil War, Upton Sinclair's belief While the extent of the journalistic
on that point motivated him to component versus other causes is de-
similarly "free the wage slaves" by bated, magazine muckraking was
writing The Jungle."o If the work clearly seen as a success, a model
of Woodward and Bernstein played that promised rewards-fame, for-
a lesser role in Watergate than did tune, the preservation of democracy-
Judge Sirica or congressional com- if its practices and techniques were
mittees, that view was apparently properly emulated. Success models,
lost on the record number of stu- whether Tweed and Watergate or the
dents who enrolled in journalismmunicipal muckraking of Lincoln
to star as the next Robert Wood- Steffens, are also advisory about
ward/Redford in All the President's limitations. The muckrakers com-
Men.11 plained that the public became satu-
rated with exposures in time, and
8. See, for example, Gustavus Myers, The
History of Tammany Hall (New York: Boni would-be
& Woodsteins talked about a
Liveright, 1917). Teflon president when ethical revela-
9. "Reminiscences of an Editor," Printer's
Ink, 15 Jan. 1896, p. 18. 12. Irving Dilliard, "Foreword: Six Decades
10. Upton Sinclair, "What Life MeansLater,"
to in Muckraking: Past, Present, and Fu-
Me," Cosmopolitan, pp. 593-94 (Oct. 1906).ture, ed. John Harrison and Harry Stein (Uni-
versity Park: Pennsylvania State University
11. Robert W. Greene, "Foreword," in The
Press, 1973), p. 6.
Reporter's Handbook, ed. John Ullmann and
Steve Honeyman (New York: St. Martin's 13. Richard Hofstadter, Age ofReform (New
Press, 1983), p. vii. York: Vintage Books, 1955), p. 186.
tions would not stick to Ronald Rea- press--"Though not 1/25th of the na-
gan. While the Beltway wondered tion they command 3/4 of its public
about the Clintons' Arkansas invest- papers"16- exploited later by
ment, a network television producer Franklin Roosevelt and then given
defended prime-time news shows'its
fo-liberal-dominance spin by Agnew
cus on Manson, Dahmer, and otherand successors.
true-crime sensations, noting, "'We
. The compact, updated version of
could do an hour on Whitewater, this
but enduring issue, in terms of me-
we wouldn't survive.' "14 dia control by owners or managers
Unethical officials may take com-
reflected in presidential endorse-
fort that their more recent conduct ments, reveals that Republican can-
ranks below Manson's 30-year-olddidates received most newspaper
murders as a television ratings draw.support in twentieth-century elec-
On the other hand, even petty bu- tions, with Nixon's 10-to-1 choice
reaucratic bungling-from over- over McGovern as the extreme exam-
priced toilet seats to late-arriving ple and with Lyndon Johnson's vic-
mail-remains more newsworthy tory over Goldwater and Clinton's
than efficient administration. The in-
edging of Bush as the two exceptions
stitutional conditions behind such to the rule."
ironies are all of interest, but tradi-
The short history of political affili-
tion and continued scapegoatingation
de- by the press describes partisan
mand first attention to the problem
newspapers, characterized by desig-
of partisanship. nated presidential organs, loyally
serving elected officials and party
PARTISANSHIP:
leaders from the founding years to-
CONTROL VERSUS CREDIBILITY
ward the mid-nineteenth century.
The great defender of press The watchdog function was divided:
free-
editors howled at the opposition and
dom, Thomas Jefferson, regretted
defended their own.
that public servants must sacrifice
In the 1830s, the penny press de-
not only time and money but "peace
clared its independence from party
of mind and even reputation."1"
Given the politically affiliatedbosses,
press as exemplified by the success
of his day, it is not remarkable of Bennett's
that New York Herald. News
he blamed Federalist partisans for opinion as the key commod-
replaced
abuses against him, including ity in attracting readers, and a revo-
charges of highly personal misbehav-lution took place: the first reporter
was hired in 1833, and three decades
ior. More interesting, he initiated the
complaint concerning the one-party later Bennett assigned more than
14. Richard Zoglin, "Manson Family Val- 16. Jefferson to William Short, 23 Jan.
ues," 71me, 21 Mar. 1994, p. 77, quoting Now's
1804, in Presidents and the Press, by Pollard,
Jeff Zucker. p. 75.
15. Jefferson to Dr. James Currie, 18 Jan. 17. See, for example, Edwin Emery and
1786, in The Presidents and the Press, by Michael Emery, The Press andAmerica, 6th ed.
James E. Pollard (New York: Macmillan, 1947),(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1988),
pp. 55-56. p. 572.
sixty correspondentsthat tofollowed

coverthe the
Tweed case, Pulit-
Civil War. President Lincoln chose zer's New York World reported the
not to designate his own partisan corruption of U.S. Senator Matthew
newspaper; his desire to reach a Quay of Pennsylvania, chairman of
larger audience and editors' need tothe Republican National Commit-
market news overcame political dif-tee.20 The lengthy story detailed ethi-
ferences. Partisan affiliation lin- cal issues ranging from embezzle-
gered into the second half of the ment
cen-of state funds to boozing and
tury as marginal papers still soughtwomanizing, but the high-minded
financial backing from politicalNew York Post noted that little atten-
fac-
tions, but stronger newspapers tion werewas paid the charges because the
courted by candidates who once World con- was "untrustworthy."21 Not
trolled them. Bennett supported only partisanship but source credibil-
Tammany on his own terms, and the ity-a reputation for sensational-
Republicans could not tame Greeley. ism--could undermine watchdog ef-
The rise of reporting soon over- fectiveness.
shadowed other forces, but the In this instance, to present the
charge of partisanship remained thetrue story of ethical violations "from
a responsible source," sniffed
first defense for exposed officials and
thus continued to affect media credi- Godkin's Post, it seconded the Quay
bility as an influence on public sectorinvestigation and confirmed Re-
ethics. Just as Nixon and Agnew publican corruption in a Republican
blamed media bias for negative ac-newspaper.22
counts of their conduct in Washing-
ton and Baltimore, earlier targets of THE NEW REPORTERS:
investigations challenged the source. LIBERAL OR LIBERATED?
Lingering partisanship even led

The Quay episode drew closer to
newspapers to play "consider the
the twentieth-century trend toward
source." The Omaha Tribune and Re-
more detached professional repor
publican cheered the Times exposure
of Tweed as "a fearless and most ef- ing, where the formal bias-news
fective warfare on the corruptions values,
of reporting techniques, for-
mats, deadlines, and other newsroom
Tammany."s1 A year later, however, it
hissed at the New York Sun's revela- conditions-grew in influence while
politics declined. Contrasting studies
tions of Republican involvement in
the Credit Mobilier scandal, conclud-of Washington correspondents in the
1930s and then 25 years later showed
ing: "Bah! The whole thing is not
the 1960s reporters to be more inde-
worth talking about. It is a sensation
from the most unreliable and sensa- pendent of publisher control, thus
tional paper in the country."19 20. "Matthew Stanley Quay, A Detailed
Story
In 1890, well after exposures of the of the Career of Pennsylvania's Great
Vote-Buying National Boss," New York World,
Grant administration and the flurry10 Feb. 1890.
18. Omaha Tribune and Republican, 2 Aug. 21. "The Life of M. S. Quay," New York Post,
1871. 16 Apr. 1890.
19. Ibid., 21 Sept. 1872. 22. Ibid.
more apt to tiveguided

be and Republican, but
by the research
profes
alism than the dictates of a Colonel makes no direct connection with
McCormick, the FDR-baiting Chi-
news coverage. Weaver and Wilhoi
cago ITribune owner.23 concluded,
The Nixon-Agnew critique, still
As in 1982, we expect further analysis o
popular in conservative rhetoric, saw
our 1992 data to suggest that the news-
the working press freer to show lib-
room itself, with all its constraints and
eral bias. Whatever the interpreta-
daily hysteria of meeting deadlines, has
tion of the new journalist's rolemore
in to do with the face of news in Amer-
shaping coverage of public affairs,
ica than does a statistical profile of those
who gather and disseminate it.25
the direct control by owners was fad-
ing. The Hearsts and McCormicks
Others urge perspectives broader
who could command attacks on pub-
than party and ideological labels,
lic officials by slavish reporters were
seeking deeper roots for news values
represented by rare throwbacks, a
in such terms as ethnocentrism, al-
Loeb slanting his newspaper's treat-
truistic democracy, small-town pas-
ment of New Hampshire primaries.
toralism, and individualism.26 The
Such publishers were replaced by the
conceptual terms may change, but
likes of the Gannett group's Allen
the traits at the heart of journalistic
Neuharth, more apt to be criticized
practice weigh heavily in explaining
for oversimplifying than partisaniz-
media treatment of public officials
ing the news.
from the White House to the county
There is risk in overstating thecourthouse.
rise of objectivity. Nonetheless, the
mainstream example of the Associ-
SELECTIVE NEWS VALUES
ated Press provides a ready contrast
between its early-twentieth-century
Before the first reporter was em-
reporting-criticized by Upton
ployed, printer-editors selectively
Sinclair among others-for reflecting published passively received news-
publishers' pro-business bias, and its
most commonly from other newspa-
post-World War II reporting, which pers or government documents. Ben
provoked major criticism of civilFranklin's predecessor at the Penn-
rights and Vietnam coverage from sylvania Gazette provided a colonia
the political right.24 Surveys in 1982
dichotomy of news values when he
and 1992 confirm political and ideo-advised readers,
logical differences between some
journalists and the general popula- We have little news of consequence a
tion, with the latter more conserva- present, the English prints being gener-
ally stuffed with robberies, cheats, fires,
23. Leo C. Rosten, The Washingtonmurders,Corre- bankruptcies, promotion of
spondents (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1937);
some, and hanging of others; nor can we
William L. Rivers, "The Correspondents after
25 Years," Columbia Journalism Review, 25. pp.David
4- H. Weaver and G. Cleveland
10 (Spring 1962). Wilhoit, "Journalists-Who Are They, Really?"
24. Upton Sinclair, The Brass Check: A Media Studies Journal, p. 78 (Fall 1992).
Study ofAmerican Journalism (Pasadena: Up- 26. Herbert J. Gans, Deciding What's News
ton Sinclair, 1920). (New York: Vintage Books, 1980), pp. 42-52.
expect much better tillers of the 1830s

vessels covered
arrive in the police
the spring, when we hope toadding
courts, inform our observa-
eyewitness
readers what has been doing in dominant
tion to the the courtdocumentary
and cabinet, in the Parliament House to
news. It was acceptable assensation-
well as the Sessions-House.27
alize accounts of drunks and harlots
Sam Keimer's disdain for sensational dragged before magistrates, but the
news was not shared by Franklin,
low status of early reporters limited
who would have far more influence access to public officials. Three years
on modem journalism; rather than
after the first reporter was hired in
1833 came the first formal news
regarding only public affairs news as
worthy, he embraced it all. interview-Bennett interrogated a
The problem was present from the madam after her prostitute's murder.
start: how can the serious stuff of The first interview with a president
governmental process compete with came 32 years later, when a vulner
the sensational? The ongoing issue,
able Andrew Johnson "submitted" to
central to media impact on everyone
questions.29 In the days before report-
from presidents to civil servants,ers, printers preferred affidavits and
came to this point in 1994: Defenders
depositions, official sources, to their
of public employees, including theown observation, and the earliest in-
terviews derived from official interro-
author of The Case for Bureaucracy,
claim the media emphasize disturb-gation and were limited at the start:
ing news about corrupt, uncaring, low-status
or reporters could grill low-
wasteful bureaucrats-stories con- status sources, as a detective or
vincing the public that its generally
prosecutor would.3" A Herald report-
positive personal experience with er could question John Brown, jailed
government is the exception toatthe Harper's Ferry, but only Bennett
could talk to a president, and then
rule.28 The press traditionally replies
that content analysis proves there is quite casually, bantering about
only
plenty of positive news but that the
peo-weather.31
The interview quite slowly became
ple forget last week's faithful-service
item about the retiring clerk anda re-
tool for probing public employees.
call last year's boondoggle trip Nottoyet a fully institutionalized prac-
Hawaii. tice in the early 1870s, it played al-
most no part in the Tweed exposures
EVOLVING TECHNIQUES or the Credit Mobilier coverage, both
heavily documentary, but gained
Active news gathering replaced
the passive news receiving by print- 29. James Gordon Bennett, New York Her-
ers who published government docu-ald, 16 Apr. 1836; Joseph McCullagh, "An In-
ments verbatim. Those new report- terview with the President," Cincinnati Com-
mercial, 16 Feb. 1868.
27. Samuel Keimer, Pennsylvania Gazette, 30. Nils Gunnar Nilsson, "The Origin of the
24 Dec. 1728. Interview," Journalism Quarterly, 48:707-13
(1971).
28. General subject of Charles Goodsell,
The Case for Bureaucracy (Chatham, NJ: 31. "The African Slave Trade," New York
Chatham House, 1994). Herald, 21 Oct. 1859.
enough acceptance by prime

with city hall sources 1883 the t
fusals of interviews by
pump of news. Studies offic
consider "beat
came front-page news
parochialism," or the way in Pul
Wisconsin
World.32 Thus began
officials the
use the press presu
to transmit in-
that a response of
formation, "No
or which comm
U.S. senators re-
from a publicceive the most news
servant coverage.33
cast susp
The people sense
Among the themany facetsinterrog
of media-gov-
roots of the ernment
interviewinteraction that have more
been
examined,
than reporters, as a evidenced
significant group of b
lic perceptions of
studies considerrudeness
the media's agenda- to
dents by the likes
setting role.of Clark Mol
and Dan Rather. The press se
interview as a flexible
SETTING AGENDAS, techn
pry anything from officials, b
SUMMING EFFECTS
public sees status: an impudent

Research into relationships be-
nalist interrogating a lofty lea
tween media, public officials, and
The evolution of reporting
policymaking is useful and informa-
niques bears on the evocative
tive, but it draws very limited connec-
of the press
in arousing public
tions that directly treat media as the
ion. The famous front page o
cause of effects on the ethics of public
Tweed Ring simply listed led
employees. The agenda-setting stud-
counts, but journalists had ado
ies, for example, give some attention
full reportorial and literary
to the way news-gathering routines
by the time muckraking beg
scrutinize local, state, and fe
shape media content.' Beginning
with the Langs in the 1950s, then
government. News-gathering
McCombs and Shaw a decade later,
niques and narrative devices
the proposition that news coverage
investigative exposures from
influenced which issues the public
facts into gripping stories with
considered important, as opposed to
array of characters and sett
what people concluded about those
Then electronic journalism gave
issues, was persuasive even when the
greater dominance to the visual
research was inconclusive.35 Nar-
dimension.
The focus on dramatic develop-33. Leon V. Sigal, Reporters and Officials
ments, from muckraking to mini-
(Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1973); Delmer D.
cams, risks overlooking the more rou-
Dunn, Public Officials and the Press (Reading,
MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969); David H. Weaver
tine day-in, day-out relationships
and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, "News Media Cover-
between journalists and public em-
age of U.S. Senators in Four Congresses, 1953-
ployees. More common than the 1974," Journalism Monographs, no. 67 (1980).
adversarial watchdog who makes 34. Gene Burd, "A Critique of Two Decades
historic headlines is the sweetheart of Agenda-Setting Research," in Agenda Set-
ting, ed. Maxwell McCombs and David Protess
reporter whose friendly relationships
(Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1991), p.
293.
32. "The Exposure by Dorsey," New York
35. Maxwell McCombs and David Protess,
World, 10 Aug. 1883.
"New Approaches to Agenda-Setting," in
searchers
rowed from influence on pay far
the public tomore attention to
influence on policymakers, the
politicians thanim-
to civil servants, just
as they
pact of news coverage is study presidents
suggested by more than
common sense where data are lack- county commissioners, campaigns
ing: surely, behavior that makes the
more than the process of governing.
10 o'clock news or lands on the front Such patterns make the singular
page should catch the attention of work of a Robert Caro more remark-
public officials. Even the small in- able for his prize-winning book on
side-page item about a bureaucrat in Robert Moses than for his exhaustive
a neighboring state who was fired for critique of President Johnson.38
using the office computer to run his While it belabors the obvious to ex-
fantasy football league lifts that ethi-
pect that more reportage as sophisti-
cal issue higher on the agenda. cated as The Power Broker would en-
It is tempting to turn the discus- hance our understanding of
sion of media influence on public sec-behind-the-scenes ethics, it remains
an open question whether the most
tor ethics into a search solely for cer-
tainty about media causes of ethical impressive and substantial journal-
effects. What makes that pursuit re- ism is also the most effective.
sistible is summed up by Denis
McQuail, the leading synthesizer of THE CHANGING CULTURE
mass media theory: "The entire study OF REPORTING
of mass communication is based on
The same newspeople who never
the premise that there are effects
from the media, yet it seems to be discuss
the mixed-rule deontology are
unlikely to analyze agenda setting;
issue on which there is least certainty
and least agreement."36 McQuail nor do they study in a systematic way
tries nobly to compress the results of their role in shaping the ethics of
wide-ranging studies of media effects others. Perhaps the last journalist to
on political institutions and lists help- both thoroughly investigate public
ful generalizations as to trends: figures and elaborately philosophize
about their behavior was Lincoln
personalities/leaders have become
more important; attention has been Steffens, whose massive autobiogra-
diverted from the local or regional to the phy ranks with those of Ben Franklin
national stage; partisanship and ide- and Henry Adams in American let-
ology are less important than finding prag- ters. As Steffens explored the real
matic solutions; general news values power behind governmental "fronts,"
influence the attention-gaining activi- he portrayed political bosses with
ties of political parties; and so on.37 sympathy, treating it as fair ex-
Even in such broad terms, change when they collected loyalty,
McQuail's overview reminds that obedience,
re- and votes in return for
patronage, charity, advice, influence,
Agenda Setting, ed. McCombs and Protess, p.
38. Robert Caro, The Power Broker (New
261. See also studies by Kurt Lang and Gladys
Engel Lang. York: Knopf, 1974); idem, The Years of Lyndon
Johnson, vol. 1, The Path to Power (New York:
36. McQuail, Mass Communication Theory,
p. 251. Knopf, 1982); ibid., vol. 2, Means of Ascent
37. Ibid., p. 290. (1990).
and fixes.39 closures aboutwas

Much leaders from Jefferson
forgiven
trains onto time, ran a Machiav
Kennedy. Nevertheless, it became
perspective morethe consensus view that cozy press
recently voic
defenders of relationships
Chicago's late
with the likes of JFK or M
Richard Daley. Congressman Wilbur Mills protected
Steffens's realism included skepti- them from disclosures about boozing
cism about ethics: "No general ethical and womanizing. Whatever the past
principle known to me held in prac- practice, whether it ended when pow-
tice, or could hold," in part because erful Ways and Means chairman
ethics differed by profession.40 Not- Mills jumped into the Tidal Basin
ing that a rich merchant was honored with stripper Fanny Fox or when
for profiteering, while a Tammany journalists were accused of shelter-
boss was denounced, he decided "that ing President Kennedy, current prac-
the ethics and the morals of politics tice generally treats private conduct
are higher than those of business."41 as bearing on public performance. And
Steffens sympathized with powerful the practice deimmunizes dogcatchers
news sources, including his acquain- as well as presidents.
tance from city-beat days, then New However, with public opinion
York police commissioner, later presi- shaky on this trend, responsible jour-
dent, Teddy Roosevelt. Call it crony- nalists still consider such coverage
ism, sweetheart reporting, or proper more debatable than news about
cultivation of sources, relationships public duties or hand-in-the-till cor-
between news gatherers and news ruption.42 Marketplace demands,
sources influence journalistic treat- represented most extremely by
ment of ethics. For example, tradi- checkout-stand newspapers and tab-
tion argues that beat reporters loid television shows but spilling into
shared with popular opinion a re- mainstream media, may outweigh
spect for distinctions between publicprofessionalism and give growing
and private behavior. status to the more lurid revelations
Post-Watergate revelations aboutabout anyone of prominence, includ-
presidential indiscretions reminded
ing public employees.
that, for a period between the parti-
san personal attacks of our early his- OPEN DEBATE, OPEN DOORS
tory and the present, public officials
enjoyed a degree of immunity from Conflicts between professional
norms, on the one hand, and sales,
reporting about drinking or extra-
marital affairs. History can be decep- ratings, and profits, on the other, en-
dure, but technical and legal aspects
tive in this regard, given eventual dis-
of access to information about gov-
39. Justin Kaplan, Lincoln Steffens: A Biog- 42. Two useful views of press ethics are
raphy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1974), p. Edmund B. Lambeth, Committed Journalism
65. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
40. Lincoln Steffens, The Autobiography of1986); Clifford Christians, John Ferre, and P.
Lincoln Steffens (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Mark Fackler, Good News: Social Ethics and
1931), p. 408. the Press (New York: Oxford University Press,
41. Ibid. 1993).
ernment have changed significantly

and open-meeting laws." Legislative
since the 1960s. Journalists maysome part in the mid-
progress played
have won the right to print without
1970s, when journalists organized
government approval inInvestigative
the eight- Reporters and Editors,
eenth century and the right to and
Inc. (IRE) criti-
began to share experi-
cize officials by the nineteenth ences century,
in probing bureaucracies for
but it took the 1964 decision of the information. IRE's national and re-
Supreme Court in New York Timesgional
v. conferences led to journals and
Sullivan to confirm that large libel
guidebooks such as The Reporter's
awards would not be allowed to pre-Handbook. Its contents include sec-
vent "uninhibited, robust, and wide-
tions entitled "Keeping Tabs on an
open" debate on public issues, in-Elected Official," "Documenting Cor-
cluding "vehement, caustic, and some-
ruption," "Finding a Government
times unpleasantly sharp attacks Document:
on An Overall Strategy," and
government and public officials."' "How to File an FOIA Suit," for re-
That key ruling made libel againstporters stymied in their application
public officials a constitutional mat-
of the Freedom of Information Act.45
ter, protecting all but "knowing" When an IRE member in Omaha
falsehoods and providing a crucial wanted to compare Nebraska's regu-
defense. No longer could good-old-boy
lation of doctors with other states',
litigation punish criticism by drag-
his wide range of source-checking in-
ging the press into the home territory
cluded help from IRE files on compa-
of popular figures. Subsequently, the
rable stories and paid consulting
main economic threat from harsh from a former IRE executive.
treatment of officials came in the
form of boycotts, especially of south-
COMPUTER-ASSISTED REPORTING
ern newspapers that supported civil
rights. Of course, such reporters now turn
As momentous as the Sullivan
to another tool for putting local,
case was to "wide-open" debate, still and state government into
county,
more significant, to media monitor-
larger perspectives: computer-
ing of public conduct and winning the databases. When Philip
accessed
right to report fully on government,
Meyer changed his Precision Jour-
was the larger fight waged federally,
nalism, written in 1970, to The New
locally, and in the states. Beginning
Precision Journalism in 1991, he re-
with the passage of the Freedom
called of
that his work on the concept
Information Act in 1966 and continu-
began with a manuscript titled, "The
ing through its revisions and accom-Application of Social and Behavioral
panied by the federal open-meeting Science Research Methods to the
act in 1977, the right to report ad-
Practice of Journalism."46 "Starting
vanced swiftly until all states
claimed some form of open-record44. Donald M. Gillmor et al., Mass Commu-
nication Law Cases and Comment, 5th ed. (St.
Paul: West, 1990), pp. 457-87.
43. New York 71mes v. Sullivan, 376 U.S.45. Reporter's Handbook, ed. Ullmann and
254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L. Ed. 2d 686 (1964).
Honeyman, pp. xvii-xix.
in the 1970s,"tive Meyer notes,

reporters freed to spend time and "jo
ism began moving toward
resources on award-winning projects. a m
entific stance," The especially
safest generalization thatas "t
creasing availability rises from all the new of comp
developments
made large bodies is that reporters
ofaredataever betteravail
journalists in a way that was not equipped to examine the ethical con-
possible before."47 duct of public employees. Whether
His book and other sources guide competing demands on air time and
journalism students and practi- newspaper space will permit them to
tioners in searching public recordsfully employ their freedom and re-
for revealing data. Texts for begin-
sources is hard to predict. Even
ning reporting classes feature suchharder to predict is what the media
chapters as "Using Computer Data audience-readers, viewers, and
Bases," "Computer-Assisted Report- listeners-will choose to consume
ing," and "Social Science Reporting," when the new information highway
as well as the traditional chapter on brings a fuller menu of entertain-
ethics.48 The full realization of this ment and information. The media
trend awaits the new generation of
role in fostering ethics may shrink if
public affairs news falls into a crack
reporters, but the technology already
in that digital freeway. All the C-
receives heavy use from those investiga-
Spans and gavel-to-gavel cable cov-
erage
46. Philip Meyer, The New Precision Jour- of council meetings will weigh
nalism (Bloomington: Indiana University little in the democratic process if
Press, 1991), p. ix. few select these items from a vast
47. Ibid., p. 7.
new menu. When Charles Manson
48. Missouri Group, News Reporting and
has his own channel,
Writing, 4th ed. (New York: St. Martin's Press, how many will
1992), pp. x-xvii. watch Whitewater?

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American Academy of Political and Social Science

The Evolving Watchdog: The Media's Role in Government Ethics

The Evolving Watchdog:

ABSTRACT: The mass media's influence on the ethics of public life,

Warren Francke is professor of communication at the University of Nebraska at

ETHICS UNEXAMINED, role, but by the seat of their pants:

5. Donald Gillmor, "A Look at Media Eth-

So it was when the muckrakers

sixty correspondentsthat tofollowed

Lingering partisanship even led

more apt to tiveguided

expect much better tillers of the 1830s

enough acceptance by prime

public sees status: an impudent

and fixes.39 closures aboutwas

ernment have changed significantly

in the 1970s,"tive Meyer notes,

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