THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES broke up with his girlfriend. Is that news? What if the relationship was an affair that began when the mayor was married?
What if the affair was with a local television anchor/ reporter?
That was the case - the mayor dated Mirthala Salinas (pictured above) who was then working for Telemundo. She actually read the news of mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's divorce on air ... but failed to mention that she was a major factor in the split.
Was it wrong for the reporter to date the mayor (forget for a moment that he was married with children)?
Here in Philadelphia, NBC10 anchor Renee Chenault Fattah is married to a congressman who wanted to be mayor. Should she have stepped away from her job during the mayoral campaign?
A New York Times political reporter wound up marrying the White House press spokesperson whom he dealt with daily during his coverage of the Clinton administration. Was it wrong for them to begin the relationship?
Or is love uncontrollable? Why should you pass up on romance because of your job?
7 comments:
No, you shouldn't give up your job because of your significant other's, nor should you forsake the relationship. If anything it should act to bolster the career of each other.
For example, would Hilary be so big if Bill wasn't so extremely popular? Journalism shouldn't be an exception. Simply remain objective when reporting about the situation,;just as the woman did when reading the divorce of the mayor.
I think that any personal relationship, whether it's between two journalists or a journalist and his or her source or whatever, is between those two people and it's nobody else's place to be concerned with it.
It's a sticky situation for Salinas and Villaraigosa only because of the affair...whenever married politicians have affairs, it's always made into a big deal regardless of who the other person may be. It was just double in this situation, because they were both public figures.
I don't think she should have left her job over it, and I'm also having trouble understanding why she was reprimanded for it. As far as I can see, she did her job and handled the situation the right way, and her relationship with Villaraigosa was her business.
As for the affair part, I'm willing to bet she wasn't the only problem between him and his wife.
You can't help who you love, but by the same token, if you feel a relationship seriously jeopardizes your career, then maybe it isn't right. There's some sort of decision to be made, but I think it can work. Renee and Chaka seem like they're doing a fine job, and they always has.
As long as no professional lines get crossed and nothing underhand happens, I think journalists and politicians should be able to have relationships with whoever they want, and it shouldn't be anyone else's business anyway.
I believe that personal relationships should be kept aside from work, however the fact that the mayor cheated on his wife may be important for people who support him because it discredits his honesty. It doesn't matter who he cheated with. Even a divorce would have "looked" better in the news than the maybe being a decitful cheater. Unfortunately like celebrities realize once a person receives a certain level of fame and responsibility. They can no longer make mistakes and do things wrong without a harsher result than the normal person.
-Keisha Frazier
many stations have a code of ethics and this relationship, because she was writing/reporting a story about the person she was involved with, violates that.
when you are a journalist, you need to worry about credibility.
firing her may be crossing the line, but she can't cover him or politics in the city at all.
Isn't there a conflict of interest clause-type-thing built in to the code of ethics that comes with a career in journalism? What if a surgeon operated on his or her lover? BAD IDEA. I think the reporter is way too close to the source to report as objectively as someone who, say, wasn't romantically involved with said source.
But can you imagine in the middle of her 'Mayor's divorce report' she was suddenly like "Oh shit. My bad."
Do journalists report stories on which they are involved? If a local reporter was doing a report on immigrants living in a certain neighborhood... and this reporter happened to be an immigrant living in said neighborhood...
Wouldn't that be a little weird?
-Caitlyn Conefry
(Those questions weren't hypothetical, I was really asking.)
Cops in Philly aren't allowed to serve in the neighborhoods where they live. That's a way of trying to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Journalists need to be in the community, and they need to be a part of the community. That is the way they learn about events, and the way they learn about people's needs.
Being a part of a community can provide invaluable access, and it can also provide massive conflicts of interest.
There is always a danger of journalists getting too close to sources. The journalist/ source relationship is so bizarre and unusual, sometimes only the two people involved appreciate the level of confidentiality.
The moment the line is crossed (i.e. the moment the journalist can longer be objective, or the moment that there can be a perception of subjectivity), the journalist must recuse himself/ herself from the story.
Journalists, like anyone else, have the right to date. But when the love life interferes with the work life, well, something has to go.
- George (the journalist who only dates journalists)
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