Poynter on the Record

Whelan is president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. But his increasingly intemperate and personal attacks on Greenhouse indicate something other than a legitimate concern about ethics. They feel more like bullying. But even if he cannot convincingly fault Greenhouse's coverage of the prisoner cases, and whatever his motives, Whelan has raised a real issue that has troubled newsrooms for as long as journalists have made friendships, fallen in love or otherwise had a life outside of work. "All journalists have competing loyalties," said Robert M. Steele, an ethics scholar at The Poynter Institute, a journalism research center in St. Petersburg, Fla.

First, I would not have removed Greenhouse from the story. As Wilkins said, if The Times did that, "we have knowingly given our readers less than our best." But after the first conversation between Greenhouse and Taubman, The Times should have clued in readers.

Second, I would have practiced what Steele called "transparency with accountability," revisiting the issue from time to time, certainly with each new case, to determine Fidell's level of participation and whether the initial decision should be reconsidered. Taubman recalls doing that, but when Baquet became bureau chief last March, he was not told of Taubman's understanding with Greenhouse. And, despite the guidelines, nobody told Craig Whitney, the standards editor.

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