Conflicts of Interest

When I worked in Selma, there was a different policy about accepting gifts from people. To be honest, if I was going to be treated to lunch, I didn’t think twice about it. In a community that small, where the people you report about are also the people you see on a regular basis, it just didn’t cross my mind. I even think that Boone Newspaper policy was that you could accept gifts worth up to $25. I think it’s because in communities like Selma, if you turn down an offer of a free meal, you geninuely insult the person and may not get the information that you need.

It’s different up here. There is a definite line because the paper’s so much larger and I don’t mind. But, I’m now seeing where the fine line can be toed.

Thursday, I was doing a story on the circus that is coming to town and was talking to the “clown ambassador” and to their PR rep. The rep asks me if I’d like some tickets. I say no, my editor will not allow me to accept them. He asks me who could he talk to about that and I said he would have to talk to our publisher.

The publisher comes through and the PR guy offers him free tickets. He accepts. The PR guy offers me tickets again and I turn him down. We go conduct the interviews and on the way out, the PR guy gives tickets to the ladies in the front office, turns and hands a pair to me and leaves.

I did not feel right about this at all, so I went to my editor, Jan, and she told me to take the tickets to the executive editor, Steve, when he got back in the office today. So, I went to Steve and told him what happened. He’s a good guy and understood what happened. He said I did the right thing by turning the tickets over. I feel the same way. What I didn’t care for was being pressured to take the tickets and then having the publisher make me look like a fool by accepting the same gift in front of me that I was turning down. I know in the PR guy’s eyes, it made it seem okay for me to accept the gift. It’s not going to affect my story, but still...it makes me uncomfortable.

Flowers

OMG! Ironically, considering the musing I made previously about gifts, I was sitting here working on the Electricity layout for Thursday when Lexie, one of the secretaries, comes over to me and goes, “Here are your flowers.”

Flowers? I turned my head and saw the most gorgeous little basket of flowers in her hands. My cheeks turned scarlet as I accepted them and looked to see whom they were from. It was from the folks at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, thanking me for the article I did on their theater that ran Sunday. Could I really accept these? I honestly felt I didn’t deserve them, because I felt I didn’t give that article my best. But they thought I did.

I asked Jan and she said it was okay for me to keep them. When you receive gifts like that after the story has run, it’s considered rude for me to give them back, especially with something like flowers. So now they’re sitting on the corner of my desk and they smell absolutely wonderful. I’m going to keep them here because they make my desk look pretty and if I take them home, the cats will eat them for dinner.