NFL Covering Itself is "Problematic," Says Media Ethicist Bob Steele '69

December 19, 2006

December 19, 2006, Greencastle, Ind. - "It is problematic for the league to be covering itself," says Bob Steele, Nelson Poynter Scholar for Journalism Values at Florida's Poynter Institute. Steele, a 1969 graduate of DePauw University, is quoted in a story in the Tacoma News Tribune on the NFL Network, a 24/7 outlet which is owned and operated by the National Football League.

"One of the core principles in journalism is independence. Ideally, the journalists covering a story are not connected to the story in a direct way," notes Steele. When another network, such as CBS, covers the NFL, "The journalists are not beholden to the teams, the owners, the players in a story. The journalists have the professional distance that not only allows them but requires them to report the truth with rigor."

Read the complete story at the newspaper's Web site.

Bob Steele was back at his alma mater in October to lead a session at DePauw Discourse 2006: Issues for America entitled "The Ethics Cauldron."  Read a summary of the event in this previous story.

Back