CNN, Fox Crack Down on Junketeers

Last week, I was surprised to learn that reporters from CNN, Fox News, the New York Post, the New York Daily News and the Huffington Post had all been allowed to go on an all-expenses-paid junket to Las Vegas, courtesy of JetBlue and Thrillist, and had taken home gift bags containing, among other swag, a shiny new Microsoft Zune (retail cost: $150 to $300). Don't any of those organizations have rules against journalists taking freebies?

Yes, as it turns out. Some of them, anyway. And a few even bother to enforce them!

A spokeswoman for CNN says its reporter, having been apprised of the rules, now plans to repay the trip's sponsors for the cost. A Fox News spokesman, after looking into the matter, returned this reply: "It certainly is against company policy. The gift bag itself will be returned, and we're taking steps to reimburse the companies that provided the travel and accommodations." Then there's CNET, whose reporter, Caroline McCarthy, actually paid her own way upfront, a decision CNET's new corporate parent, CBS, would surely applaud.

So far, so good. But then there are the tabloids.

When I reported last week that a staffer and freelancer for the perennially-ethics-challenged New York Post had gone on the junket, I had heard, but not confirmed, that a reporter from the Daily News was also on the trip. Well, it's confirmed now. But a News spokeswoman says he didn't run afoul of the paper's ethics policy because he "didn't fly to Las Vegas as a representative of the Daily News. The invitation was sent to his personal email and there was never any discussion of coverage."

This echoes the explanation the Post's staff reporter gave when asked about the trip: He was there as a friend, not as a journalist. Of course, it is baloney; neither would have been invited were it not for their professional affiliations.

But the News' hypocrisy on this score is particularly rank given the way it has raked the Post over the coals for past ethical transgressions. Last year, the News called it "editorial suicide" when the Post admitted that gossip editor Richard Johnson had taken a $1,000 cash gift from restaurateur Nello Balan. It's worth noting that Balan's gift was probably less than the retail value of the Thrillist junket and gift bag. But, then again, he didn't send it to Johnson's personal address; maybe that was the mistake?

In fact, I'm told that the News reiterated its swag policies to staffers in mid-2006, following the paper's aggressive coverage of the "Page Fix" scandal, to avoid just such appearances of hypocrisy; the paper's spokeswoman declined to elaborate on exactly what the policy is.

As for the Post, a spokeswoman ignored repeated requests for comment, but a publicist for Thrillist says it has not been reimbursed by the Post or anyone else.

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