ABSTRACT
Commenting on the problem of conflicts of interest in the journalism business, media critic Howard Kurtz admonishes print and broadcast journalists for employing a double standard in reporting on the ethical shortcomings of other people while failing to recognize them in their own work. To address the problem of management skepticism, many journalism schools and national media organizations are developing college scholarships and other programs aimed at interesting more high school and college students from diverse backgrounds in pursuing careers in journalism and broadcasting. While all media organizations address such potential conflicts in their personnel policies, they vary greatly in the degree to which those relationships are scrutinized. One common example of a conflict of interest is when a journalist is assigned to cover a story involving an organization of which he or she is a member or a person with whom he has a business or personal relationship.
