Not Fake News: Veteran reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein speak at The Society of Professional Journalists’ annual convention, MediaFest 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Rebecca Aguilar)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) is one of the pre-eminent journalism bodies in the country. But in tonight’s edition, we reveal how the organization's decision to conduct a bizarre exercise to test journalism ethics appears to have backfired, with members left up in arms.
Also, tonight, a follow-up to our scoop last week about D.C. power player and fixer Juleanna Glover, her client, Andre Pienaar, a BBC article that was killed, and a potential link to the Kremlin.
Plus, it’s Tuesday, which means Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie is back with Hamish’s Hot Sauce. Tonight, he files his weekly dispatch from his native New Zealand, weighing in on the success of major live events (think Oasis’ reunion tour and The Wizard of Oz at The Sphere) that have crossed over to become defining cultural moments.
Finally, some shameless self-promotion. To mark six months of Breaker, we sat down with A Media Operator to chinwag about what we’ve learned so far, the problems we’re trying to solve as we grow and evolve, and what the future of Breaker looks like for our subscribers. You can read it here.
Mentioned tonight: John Malone, Shane Smith, Will Lewis, Dan Rather, Benny Johnson, Robert Costa, Peter Baker, Sam Stein, Robert Gibbs, Isabella Simonetti, Juleanna Glover, Kenneth Glueck, Andre Pienaar, and more.
For Your Sins
(Exclusive.) Earlier this year, to mark its ethics week, the Society of Professional Journalists held a rather baffling contest titled “Spread Immoral News” (SIN). What could possibly go wrong?
The organization, which until recently was the largest and oldest professional journalism organization in America (that title now belongs to Investigative Reporters and Editors, IRE) encouraged college kids nationwide to create a newspaper issue where they violated as much of the SPJ’s Code of Ethics as possible.
You read that correctly: create fake news to highlight the reputational damage that can be caused by legitimately fake news, all the while tarnishing the very code that acts as the backbone of ethical journalism.
It was an initiative of the SPJ ethics chair, Michael Koretzky, who brought back to life an idea he first had a dozen years ago.
“If it had gone poorly or caused any misunderstanding on the campuses where it was done, then yes. I'd want to change enough things to make sure that didn't happen again,” Koretzky told Breaker. “But like I said, I've heard nothing negative from the winners or participants or the campuses on which they exist.”
But many SPJ members remain furious about the contest months after it was held.
"People already think we make it all up,” Dan Axelrod, a member of the SPJ’s Ethics Committee, told Breaker. “Why would you create a program called Spread Immoral News on a national level that encourages college students, albeit for an educational basis, to make up news?”
Breaker has learned that SIN has now drawn criticism from another journalism body, condemning the concept. The backlash may adversely impact sponsorship of SPJ’s marquee annual event MediaFest 25, which is being held in Washington D.C. next month.
The feedback regarding the SIN initiative has reignited lingering discontent from members on issues that stretch beyond the controversial competition. A number of SPJ members have told Breaker that the problems within the organisation stem from…
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