Ethical journalist alert!

Her name is Virginia Gerst, and she resigned from the Hollinger-owned
Suburban Chicago Pioneer Press
when management allowed
their marketing director to write a positive restaurant review after the
restauranteur complained about an earlier review. You can find her
resignation letter at the Poynter
site, posted on Aug. 28, 2003.

Good luck finding work in a lousy economy, Virginia. It took guts to
quit, but it’s the right thing to do.

Why is this important? Because readers have a right to expect that a
review is an honest and not written to appease advertisers. There’s
supposed to be a wall between advertising and editorial. I’ve never
worked at a newspaper in which no one ever climbed over the wall. If
someone from advertizing had a good news tip, I used it. I also told
them when I wouldn’t be following up on their suggestion .. like the ad
rep who suggested a story about her new client — a palm reader.

He once wrote funny column that had unflattering things to say about the
food at the local Hooter’s restaurant
. I found out later
than someone who worked at the paper was a co-owner. Oops.