Ethics In Media? What?

‘UNETHICAL’ WRITER TOLD: MOVE ON

RIGHT ON!!

Randy Cohen

A newspaper in Washington state announced yesterday it was dumping the “The Ethicist” column of New York Times writer Randy Cohen after he was fingered for forking over campaign cash to the liberal MoveOn.org.

The Spokane Spokesman-Review had planned to start running Cohen’s nationally syndicated column today but instead spiked his prose from its pages after learning of the payout.

“It would by hypocritical of us to run an ethics column by a journalist in violation of our own ethics policy,” editor Steven Smith wrote online.

“Had he been a Spokesman-Review staff member, he would have faced suspension, at least . . . So we’re dropping the column. We’ll look elsewhere for a publishable ethicist.”

Dozens of readers responded to Smith’s Web notification, the vast majority commending the paper’s decision.

Cohen was named this week in an MSNBC report detailing the political donations of 144 reporters, editors, TV producers and other workers at media organizations, nearly 90 percent of whom were found to have given money to Democrats and other left-leaning political outfits.

Cohen gave $585 in 2004 to MoveOn.org as it worked to replace President Bush with Democrat John Kerry.

Cohen, ignoring MoveOn.org’s transparent political purpose, initially claimed his contribution was on a par with a reporter donating to the Boy Scouts or the Catholic church.

But later, in an e-mail to MSNBC, he wrote: “That said, Times policy does forbid my making such donations, and I will not do so in the future.”

Cohen was one of three Times staffers identified in the report. Two people from The Daily News also donated to Democrats. No Post journalists were named.