There have been plenty of stories about Enron’s payments for political access. Much less covered has been Enron’s payments to big “J” journalists for influence peddling. AndrewSullivan.com broke the story that at least four journalists were paid by Enron to serve on an advisory panel with neither responsibility nor purpose.
The sums Enron paid would be quite disturbing even if the company didn’t go down in the flames of the biggest bankruptcy in United States history. Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard got US$100,000 while Paul Krugman of the New York Times, Irwin Stelzer of the Sunday Times of London, and Lawrence Kudlow of the National Review were each relatively short-changed at US$50,000 each. Most disturbing of all was that not one of the journalists in question fully disclosed the deal (Krugman disclosed he had a financial relationship with Enron, but he conveniently failed to disclose the amount involved).
Richard Blow’s piece for TomPaine.com offers a simple, effective solution:
“If journalists want to retain any more credibility than politicians, they should spurn all monies for anything not directly associated with journalism. If they do take outside income, they should disclose it—before they’re writing about any related subject. It’s not hard to do. The Web would be an easy avenue of disclosure. Or some neutral body, like the Columbia Journalism School, could collect the information.”
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