We recently wrote of CNET News’ problems with its parent CBS, in which the network told its tech news company to remove Dish’s “Hopper with Sling” device as a “Best of CES” product because CBS is suing Dish over the device.
CBS hasn’t backed down much, and among the fallout is that Consumer Electronics Show reinstated the Hopper as a “Best of CES” product and removed CNET as the group that picks those “Best of” products.
And then there is the story of Greg Sandoval, who quit his job covering media for CNET. In one tweet, he said he was “not disgruntled” because his former employer was good to him. “I just want to be known as an honest reporter.”
He has since landed at tech news site The Verge. In a blog post, he wrote:
The Verge also won me over by providing something of great value to me. I possess a written guarantee from management that nobody from the business side of the company will ever have any authority over my stories. Long before I arrived, The Verge committed itself to editorial independence.
If only every reporter could have such a written guarantee.
His decision to quit over an ethical principle is a perfect example from Chapter 4 in Doing Ethics in Media: Theories and Practical Applications, with the discussion of James Rest’s four components of morality. Indeed, it takes a high level of moral development to meet the standards of “moral character and implementation” (p. 125) and take a stand on principle. While not every case of walking away from a steady paycheck over ethical reasons leads to a new job in a hurry, it’s nice to see a happy ending when it happens.